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number of professional awards conferred in the geoscience profes-
sion. Further troubling is that women of color experience the dou-
ble bind of gender as well as racial and ethnic biases, also known
as intersectionality. For example, a study found that almost half of
black and Latina women scientists had been mistaken as janitors
and support staff. In a similar vein, black Ph.D. scientists are less implicit and explicit bias by disseminating the data that demon-
likely to receive grant funding compared to white Ph.D. scientists
with a similar research record, and CVs with traditionally white
names are significantly more likely to receive callbacks for job
interviews compared to identical CVs with ethnic names.
Pressing Need for Elimination of Harassment
Women scientists disproportionately face the threat of harass-
ment. These threats range from sexual assault (unwanted physical
contact) and coercion (quid pro quo), to unwanted sexual atten-
tion, bullying, insulting, and other demeaning behaviors that
derive from asymmetric and hierarchical power distributions.
Further compounding the problem is reluctance on the part of
many male faculty members to accept evidence of gender bias and
to be more likely to deny any occurrence of sexual misconduct in
the workplace. Silence is complicity, and neutrality in situations
where harassment arises is not an acceptable option. Empowering
bystanders to act and developing ally networks are essential steps
toward changing the culture of acceptance.
Advocating for a Change in Professional Culture
Addressing systemic injustices and barriers to career progres-
sion for women in the geosciences requires recognition and reso-
lution of bias and elimination of harassment. This can only be
achieved by changing the factors and conditions that affect our
professional culture. Depending on civil or criminal remedies is
not enough and deflects away from the personal, professional,
and moral responsibility that we must own. In order to change
our professional culture, we advocate for evidence-based strate-
gies to overcome barriers and increase the recruitment, reten-
tion, and re-entry of women in the geosciences. These include
the following:
• Educating the geoscience workforce on the presence, nature,
and impact of implicit biases. This includes promoting fair
assessments by using blind evaluations (removing gender, race,
maternity, age, disability, and ethnicity identifiers where pos-
sible); establishing and communicating clear criteria for success
before reviewing candidate applications; and having people on
every evaluative committee with training on the impact of
implicit bias on evaluations.
• Establishing zero tolerance for sexual harassment, harassment,
and bullying.
• Establishing family-friendly policies that will enable the full
participation of women regardless of their personal or profes-
sional situation.
• Promoting flexible career paths that accept and value alternate
pathways to and within the geoscience profession.
PUBLIC POLICY ASPECTS
GSA is strongly committed to adopting policies that promote a
professional culture that is welcoming, inclusive, supportive, and
fair to all. These policies should identify and address issues that
unjustly impact the professional development of women in the
www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
geosciences, and should be applied to all GSA functions, such Position Statement DRAFT
as membership, governance, meeting and field-trip participa-
tion, and award consideration.
This statement recommends that GSA promote awareness of
strate bias in candidate selection for scholarships, graduate
school admission, honors and awards, and geoscience jobs.
GSA should produce collaborative op-eds and research papers
on this topic, distribute this information at workshops, set high
standards of conduct at all GSA events, and circulate this infor-
mation in GSA governance to increase the recognition of bias
and thereby reduce its impact.
RECOMMENDATIONS
GSA leadership and its members are encouraged to take the
following actions to actively promote the success of women in
the geosciences following the principles of diversity and
equality:
• GSA should ensure that all members understand their respon-
sibility to behave in a professional manner. GSA is encour-
aged to implement and vigorously oversee the Respectful
Inclusive Scientific Events (RISE) program, which requires
professional conduct among members and the safety of all
who participate in GSA-sponsored activities.
• GSA should ensure that representative voices are present,
heard, and respected in all GSA service roles.
• GSA should advocate for and promote policies that support
families, such as providing recommendations on dual career,
workforce re-entry, stop-the-clock, and family support
programs.
• GSA should continue developing and promoting scholarship
and mentoring programs for students from underrepresented
groups and fund those initiatives with demonstrated success.
• GSA should provide Implicit Bias and Bystander Intervention
training to all GSA employees, Division and committee lead-
ership, Council members, Foundation Trustees, and awards
canvassing and selection committee members. This training
is needed to ensure that implicit bias is minimized in GSA
governance and award selection.
• GSA members should serve as mentors, allies, advocates, and
champions of women in their career progression.
• GSA should encourage further study of barriers and remedies
to the full participation and career progression of women in
the geosciences by promoting conference sessions, work-
shops, publication of rigorous studies thereof, and monitoring
and evaluation.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Underrepresentation of Women in the Workplace
American Geosciences Institute, 2016, Status of the Geoscience Workforce:
AGI, https://www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/reports/status-
report (last accessed 2 Nov. 2017).
Hill, C., Corbett, C., St. Rose, A., and the American Association of
University Women (AAUW), 2010, Why so few? Women in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics: Washington, D.C., AAUW,
https://www.aauw.org/research/why-so-few/ (last accessed 2 Nov. 2017).
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering
Statistics, 2017, Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in
Science and Engineering: 2017: Arlington, Virginia, Special Report NSF
17-310, www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/ (last accessed 2 Nov. 2017).
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