It seems no matter where you look, claims of gender discrimination at work can be found. Hollywood. The BBC. Google.
The latest addition to a depressing stream of reports of such bias in many walks of life comes in the form of a new survey showing that half of women in STEM jobs in the US (those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics) have faced sexual discrimination at work.
Released today by the respected Pew Research Center, it examined the experiences of employees and their perceptions of fair treatment of women at work. While inequalities were reported across the board, these experiences were more pronounced in jobs where women worked mostly with men.
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What stands out is that, when compared with women working in non-STEM fields, those in STEM occupations report a higher level of discrimination: 50 per cent against 41 per cent. This demands the question: what is it about these industries that is engendering an environment of deeper inequality?
Science and engineering jobs have a chequered past in terms of gender parity and treatment of women, and while there are reasons for tentative optimism (more women working in the life and physical sciences since 1991, for example), there are plenty more for pessimism (the proportion of women working in computer sciences has plummeted since 1991).
Inhospitable workplace
A number of rationales are often posited for this situation: that it is an issue that begins before women arrive in the workplace, with at university; or that women forgo the demands of a STEM career in lieu of a healthier work-life balance. However, the Pew findings suggest a more underexplored explanation: that a tangible bias exists within these industries, enabling a working environment that is fundamentally inhospitable to female employees.
Following the slew of women speaking out about their experiences of – most notably on the alleged predatory actions of Harvey Weinstein – about their experiences of sexual harassment in work and education. The Pew report echoes this: it found a fifth of women in STEM jobs have been sexually harassed at work.
What’s more, a claimed that a third of women in STEM-related careers report “feeling pressure to play a traditionally feminine role”, while two-thirds describe “hitting the maternal wall” – an expectation they would work fewer hours once they had children.
And ethnic minority women face an even more pronounced experience of gender bias, according to the same study: female Asian-American scientists describe increased pressures compared with other ethnic groups to fulfil a “traditionally feminine role”, while black women describe more frequent instances of “having to provide more evidence of competence… to prove themselves”. This is corroborated by the Pew survey, which also found racial discrimination prevalent in an industry that lacks great diversity.
Dishearteningly, a published by the US National Academy of Sciences found that many men in STEM fields denied there was anything amiss, with a reported reluctance “to accept evidence of gender biases in STEM”. And it was just last July that a Google employee published a 10-page diatribe criticising the company’s efforts to promote workplace diversity, arguing that women are intrinsically less suited to tech roles.
There is no denying that the latest Pew survey illustrates once more the magnitude of the issue in an industry where discrimination persists and sexism is rife. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for women in STEM to be afforded the basic dignity of being treated as professionals, and equals.
After the watershed moments of 2017 related to discrimination and sexual harassment across multiple industries, I hope that 2018 is the year gender bias is not just acknowledged, but also, crucially, tackled.
Read more: In 2018, science needs its own version of the #MeToo campaign
