The first step of fixing STEM culture is recognizing that it is broken.
The images of laboratories, classrooms, and research centers typically associated with the term “scientist” may seem far off from the protests of equality for marginalized groups. However, biases and disparities among the majority and minority groups are just as prevalent in medical and STEM fields as in any other.
Scientists, backed by the organizations representing them, have embarked on a path to speak out and highlight the injustice and discrimination toward minorities-- uncovering the challenges that these minorities face in the sciences that have long been overshadowed by complacency.
Just how deeply has bias stained our social canvas? A riddle used at implicit bias training goes like this: a father and son are in a fatal car crash, and the father dies at the scene. The son, in critical condition, is immediately rushed to the hospital; he’s in the operating room, about to go into surgery--- but as treatment is about to begin, the surgeon says: “I cannot operate on this boy, he’s my son!” What possibility first comes to mind in this situation?
Perhaps it was that the son had two same-sex fathers, or one biological and one adopted father, or one father and one religious father (priest), which are all possibilities. However, there is an obvious answer that most people miss: the surgeon is the boy’s mother.
Like it or not, we are conditioned to associating certain occupations, such as surgeons, as being masculine. Such biases extend beyond gender to reach ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups.
And bias in STEM and healthcare fields runs far deeper than we care to realize or admit. Affinity bias-- or the tendency to prefer people like ourselves--- is powerful and innate in all of us, regardless of factors such as gender, race, age, and academic background. Thus, if a certain group dominates an industry, its future generations, leaders, and role models will likely belong to the founding group as well, perpetuating the existing culture.
A study from the International Journal of STEM Education highlights the presence of affinity bias in the industry among minority groups. The majority (71%) of respondents in the study were female and nearly all (96%) identified as an ethnic minority. 54% of respondents stated that meeting a STEM professional of their own gender and ethnicity would be an effective encouragement to pursue STEM. A similar percentage, 56%, believed that media exposure to gender- and ethnicity-matched STEM professionals would be effective encouragement in their career.
Such presence of affinity bias becomes a prominent cause for existent racial and gender disparities in the field. The reasons behind this correlation include: the pervasive essence of affinity bias, majority supremacy and lack of diversity, the nature of scientific inquiry, and the overall culture that enables discrimination.
We should take the step to recognize the presence of this force in order to prevent it from affecting the STEM fields any further. Through this, the industry can become more fair and equal for all those who partake in it, regardless of identity.
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