Why Ada Lovelace Day matters | Science | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2015/oct/13/why-ada-lovelace-day-matters
▻https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/10/12/1444685308186/98a32e1c-4856-4f95-a8d8-f3f7b0e88dc3-bestSizeAvailable.png?width=1200&heig
We know that women are underrepresented in science, and because of initiatives like Ada Lovelace Day, and organisations like ScienceGrrl, there are more and more people attempting to do something about the unconscious biases that may well be responsible for the discrepancy. But women are not the only group underrepresented.
Ada herself was a wealthy and highly educated woman. And these days academia still has more than its fair share of white, middle class employees. Perhaps as well as Ada Lovelace Day we need a day championing scientists, engineers and mathematicians who don’t fit this mould, in the hope that increasing the visibility of these people will encourage more diversity in future.
Of course, more needs to change than just visibility. The culture of academia needs to change in order for it to be a place that everyone can thrive. Unconscious biases are problematic and hard to remove precisely because they are unconscious. I may have been overlooked or belittled because I’m a woman - equally it’s likely I may have unconscious biases of my own. It isn’t just men who rate CVs with women’s names at the top as being of lower quality, the study that investigated this found that women did so too.
The harder question is how do we counter and overcome these unconscious biases. Being aware of the problem is the first step. Professor Athene Donald has a practical list of suggestions that I think is brilliant - and most can be applied to equality and diversity in science beyond gender. Encouraging diversity in academia benefits everyone, so what better time than Ada Lovelace Day to highlight the work of a woman that you think is inspirational, so that her achievement can inspire others.
With Athene’s permission, I have listed her suggestions below:
Call out bad behaviour whenever and wherever you see it – in committees or in the street. Don’t leave women to be victimised;
Encourage women to dare, to take risks;
Act as a sponsor or mentor (if you are just setting out there will still always be people younger than you, including school children, for whom you can act);
Don’t let team members get away with demeaning behaviour, objectifying women or acting to exclude anyone;
Seek out and remove microinequities wherever you spot them;
Refuse to serve on single sex panels or at conferences without an appropriate level of female invited speakers;
Consider the imagery in your department and ensure it represents a diverse group of individuals;
Consider the daily working environment to see if anything inappropriate is lurking. If so, do something about it.
Demand/require mandatory unconscious bias training, in particular for appointment and promotion panels;
Call out teachers who tell girls they can’t/shouldn’t do maths, physics etc;
Don’t let the bold (male or female) monopolise the conversation in the classroom or the apparatus in the laboratory, at the expense of the timid (female or male);
Ask schools about their progression rates for girls into the traditionally male subjects at A level (or indeed, the traditionally female subjects for boys);
Nominate women for prizes, fellowships etc;
Tap women on the shoulder to encourage them to apply for opportunities they otherwise would be unaware of or feel they were not qualified for;
Move the dialogue on from part-time working equates to ‘isn’t serious’ to part-time working means balancing different demands;
Recognize the importance of family (and even love) for men and women;
Be prepared to be a visible role model;
Gather evidence, data and anecdote, to provide ammunition for management to change;
Listen and act if a woman starts hinting there are problems, don’t be dismissive because it makes you uncomfortable;
Think broadly when asked to make suggestions of names for any position or role.
