Building Bridges: The Power of the Sisterhood

全国数据显示，不同种族背景的女性放弃从事STEM职业的比例高于白人女性。由于多样性分类常常以种族和性别区分个人，有色人种女性在这种分裂效应中承受着额外的歧视负担，而男性和白人女性则没有。因此，有色人种女性面临着双重的排斥。该项目旨在通过解决房间里的大象：缺乏信任，在有色人种女性和白人女性之间建立更牢固的联系。通过解决不同种族和民族背景的女性之间的历史不信任，我们可以建立一个安全的空间来建立信任。相互理解的信任可以促进合作、联盟和倡导走到一起，并可以转化为STEM领域的女性临界质量。该奖项将支持两个远程会议，以促进白人女性和有色人种女性在工程领域的对话，最终目标是增加女性在工程领域的保留率。来自美国各地的女性团体将被召集起来，就种族、性别和其他社会类别以及属于这些类别如何影响她们的经历进行坦诚和公开的讨论。这个项目不是专注于最佳实践或技巧和技巧，而是旨在解构和重新构想这类研讨会，以推动参与者面对自己的偏见和无知。该项目将汇集前所未有的参与者组合，以确定可以进一步追求的研究问题，并最终深入了解工程领域的女性，然后是STEM，如何成为更好的盟友，并朝着自己的代表前进。当项目参与者回到他们的家庭机构和办公室时，他们将能够与他们的圈子分享关键的收获，并进一步扩大项目的覆盖面。“搭建桥梁：姐妹情谊的力量”试点项目的成果已在会议文件中分享。扩大项目规模将提供更大的机会，通过个人互动、未来的会议记录和出版物来分享知识，从而更好地传播关键信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

National data indicates that women from varied racial backgrounds desist from pursuing STEM careers at a higher rate than white women. Because diversity categorization often separates individuals by race and gender, women of color bear an additional discriminatory burden of this divisive effect in ways men and white women do not. Consequently, women of color face a double ration of exclusion. This project seeks to build stronger bonds between women of color and white women by addressing the elephant in the room: the lack of trust. By addressing the historical mistrust between women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, we can develop a safe space to build trust. Mutually understood trust can then facilitate collaboration, alliances, and advocacy to come together and can translate into a critical mass of women in STEM fields.This award will support two remote conferences on fostering dialogue between white women and women of color in engineering with the ultimate goal of increased retention of women in engineering. Groups of women from regions across the US will be convened for candid and open discussions about race, gender, and other social categories and how belonging to those categories shapes their experiences. Rather than focusing on best practices or tips and tricks, this project aims to deconstruct and reimagine these kinds of workshops to push participants to confront their own biases and ignorances. This project will bring together an unprecedented mix of participants to define research questions that can be further pursued and eventually lead to deeper understanding of how women in engineering, and then STEM, can become better allies to one another and make advancement toward their own representation. As the participants in this project return to their home institutions and offices, they will be able to share key takeaways with their circles and further increase the reach of this project. The results of the Building Bridges: Power of the Sisterhood pilot program have been shared in conference papers. Scaling the project will provide a greater opportunity to share knowledge via personal interactions, future conference proceedings, and publications for greater dissemination of critical information.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.