125 Women Rising: Removing Barriers and Achieving Parity in the Geosciences

Monday, 5 November 2018
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Sagamore Ballroom 5

A SNAPSHOT OF WOMEN GEOSCIENTISTS IN THE WORKFORCE IN 2018: WHAT HAVE WE OVERCOME, AND WHAT DO WE CONTINUE TO FACE?

Paper number: 125-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:40 PM – 2:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Women have been fighting for equal representation in the geoscience workforce for decades. Forty years ago, the gap in the workforce was astounding. For example, in 1977, as the USGS approached its 100th birthday, not a single woman had served as a supervisor within the organization (Pecora, GAEA, 1985). Only 23% of geoscience degrees granted in 1981 went to women, and at the same time only 7% of faculty (all ranks) were women (Sand and Bunning, Journal of Geological Education, 1985). Over the past several decades, many efforts have been underway to fill this gap. However, the majority of these efforts have gone towards recruiting more women into the sciences, particularly at the K-12 levels. These efforts are making a difference – the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) reports that the number of women being awarded geoscience degrees, at all levels, increased from 25% in 1985 to 43% in 2016. But despite these efforts, women still only make up 30% of the STEM workforce according to a 2017 report by the National Science Foundation. Even more concerning is that of this number, less than half are women of color (12%). A large contributor to the gap that still exists in the workforce today is the inability of employers to recognize the barriers in retaining women geoscientists, and even more importantly the compounding effect that intersectionality contributes. Recent studies by AGI show that half of the women in the geoscience workforce are early career (ages 23-30), which is nearly the same as the number of men in that age range. However, as the workforce increases in age, the number of women drops to less than 25% in the 51-60 age group (Geoscience Currents No. 120, 2013). When looking at faculty positions in particular, women still only comprise 20% of the total faculty in geosciences – and less than 10% of those are full professors (Geoscience Currents No. 119, 2016). This presentation will discuss the current snapshot of women geoscientists in the workforce, outline the disparities that they still face, and what employers must do to help fill the remaining gap to retain women geoscientists in the future.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 50, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2018AM-315960

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