Dr. Amber R. Abernathy is NSF’s featured woman in STEM this week. She is a psychologist who has published many studies on social dominance and wants to help increase people’s conscientiousness.
“Every human should have a physiological response when they feel empathy,” said Abernathy, the Mary-Charlotte Bayles Shealy Chair in Conscientious Psychology. This empathy is measured through electro dermal activity, similar to a lie detector test.
It is so important to help women in STEM remain in their careers. There are many obstacles that can push women out of scientific careers over time. Organizations like AWIS, the Association for Women in Science, work to help women in STEM have long, fulfilling careers.
AWIS was founded as a nonprofit in 1971. It was created by thirty-five women who had dealt with inequity and injustice in scientific fields and wanted a program to support women in science. In the years since, the organization has filed suits over gender discrimination, pushed legislation that promotes equity, and created events that give women in STEM opportunities to connect and be recognized for their work. Among many other important projects, AWIS launched the ARC Network in 2019, a “STEM equity brain trust” that works to create meaningful systemic change in STEM. They published a press release on their website announcing the new network. The establishment of the ARC Network is also marked on the timeline of their accomplishments on their history page.
In 2021, AWIS celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since 1971, the organization has had a massive positive impact, awarding scholarships, holding programs, and opposing all forms of inequity. AWIS and organizations like it are a wonderful resource for women and other underrepresented minorities in STEM to utilize.
Dr. Pam R. Sailors is this week’s featured woman in STEM. Dr. Sailors is the associate dean of MSU’s College of Humanities and Public Affairs, and she has conducted extensive research on the risks and morality of having children play football.
“Kids start playing football as soon as their little necks can support the helmets on top of their heads,” Sailors said. “By the time they are old enough to make the choice to play, a lot of the damage has already been done.”
One of many issues facing women in STEM is dual-career challenges. Finding two STEM jobs at once in the same area can be very difficult. Often couples rely on institutions to provide jobs for them both if one gets hired. Statistically, women are more likely than men to give up on their careers or change career trajectories for the sake of their spouse. That is what makes this such an important issue relating to gender equity.
One article about this was published in the Journal of Higher Education in 2000, titled Dual-Career Couples: Keeping Them Together. It stresses the importance and challenge of offering viable jobs for couples who are both in academic fields. It discusses a survey of chief academic officers at various institutions. The survey asks questions about institutional dual-career assistance policies. Of the 360 responses they received, 24% of respondents reported having dual-career assistance policies at their institution. Most of the institutions reported that they would give faculty accommodations of this type, but mostly on an ad hoc basis. Also, universities which attempted to assist spouses in finding jobs were successful less than half the time.
The study showed that dual-career assistance was often overlooked in 2000. Today, most universities in the United States have some form of dual-career policy. These help faculty find placement for themselves and their spouses. The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), a group that helps people find jobs in academia, has many resources for dual-career placement. These resources are much easier to find than they were in the past. What’s more, dual-career couples themselves are more abundant than they were in 2000. According to a 2019 McKinsey article, Making It Work: How Dual-Career Couples Find Fulfillment at Work, their survey of over 35,000 workers found that 89% of women and 70% of men were part of a dual-career couple. Issues remain for dual-career couples, but research seems to show that they have more options than they once did. Still, this remains an issue that must be addressed if we wish to advance women in STEM.
Dr. Leslie Echols is this week’s featured woman in STEM. Dr. Echols is an assistant professor of Psychology, and she works with children to improve coping techniques for dealing with bullying, and help them build stronger friendships.
“Victims who end up on the worst trajectory are the ones who think, ‘It was my fault. It’s nothing I can change,’” Echols said. So part of the program will be retraining victims to attribute the bullying more appropriately, which is Graham’s specialty. “It’s reframing our thinking. What are other possible reasons this could have happened?”
