Perceptions of stereotypes applied to women who publicly communicate their STEM work
Perceptions of stereotypes applied to women who publicly communicate their STEM work
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DOI：
10.1057/s41599-020-00654-0
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发表时间：
2020-12-25
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
O'Connell, Christine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
McKinnon, Merryn;O'Connell, Christine
科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域普遍存在性别偏见和陈规定型观念，这可能对女孩和妇女进入STEM学习和职业生涯造成障碍。有许多举措被用来试图解决这些偏见和陈规定型观念，包括使用明显的榜样。这项研究探讨了对在学术和非学术环境中公开谈论自己工作的女性STEM专业人员的刻板印象的看法。通过对来自超过25种不同文化背景的300多人参加的研讨会进行研究，结果显示，公开交流工作的女性很可能会被刻板印象为“爱发牢骚”、“专横”和“情绪化”--通常是因为她们的性别。这些发现表明，女性在公开交流自己的工作时可能处于更脆弱的地位，这可能会对她们充分参与自己的职业生涯产生影响。它还可能对使用榜样来解决STEM普遍存在的刻板印象的方案产生影响。STEM领域需要进行系统的文化和体制改革，以解决妇女面临的根深蒂固的偏见和负面陈规定型观念。然而，应该确保旨在促进这一变化的解决方案不会使问题复杂化。
Gender biases and stereotypes are prevalent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, which can create obstacles for the attraction, retention and progression of girls and women to STEM studies and careers. There are many initiatives which are used to attempt to address these biases and stereotypes, including the use of visible role models. This study explores the perceptions of the stereotypes applied to female STEM professionals who publicly speak about their work in both academic and non-academic settings. Using workshops with over 300 participants, predominantly female STEM professionals, from over 25 different cultural backgrounds, the results showed women who publicly communicate their work are likely to be stereotyped as 'bitchy', 'bossy', and 'emotional'-often by their own gender. These findings suggest that women may be in a more vulnerable position when communicating publicly about their work, which could have implications for them participating fully in their careers. It may also have implications for programs which use role models to address prevailing STEM stereotypes. Systematic cultural and institutional change is needed in STEM fields to address the underlying bias and negative stereotypes facing women. However, it should be ensured that the intended solutions to facilitate this change are not compounding the problem.