National Geographic USA - 11.2019

*INCLUDES SEXIST HOSTILITY, CRUDE BEHAVIOR, UNWANTED SEXUAL ATTENTION, AND SEXUAL COERCION
TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO AND KAYA BERNE, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: KEVIN M. SWARTOUT, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY; NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING,
AND MEDICINE; INSTITUTE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN; PEW RESEARCH CENTER; BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

Computer programmers

Software developers

Statisticians

Computer network architects

Environmental scientists

Chemists

Biologists

Medical scientists

Psychologists

Dental hygienists Speech pathologists

Dietitians

Registered nurses

Vet assistants

Nurse practitioners

Pharmacists

Veterinarians Physical therapists

EMTs

Chiropractors

Dentists

Physicians & surgeons

Optometrists

97.1%

Surveying and mapping technicians

Mechanical engineers

Electrical engineers

Aerospace engineers

Civil engineers

Chemical engineers

Industrial engineers

Architects

3. 2%

HEALTH AVERAGE

SCIENCE AVERAGE

COMPUTER SCIENCE

AVERAGE

ENGINEERING AVERAGE

46.7%

72.6%

25.6%

15.9%

GENERAL WORKFORCE

47% AVERAGE

28.6% STEM AVERAGE

100%

0

Women who say: In workplaces with:

Science Engineering Medicine

1 in 5 1 in 4 1 in 2

An even mix or more women

More men than women78%

27%

21%

48%

14%

33%

44%

They’ve experienced discrimination

Their workplace has a sexual harassment problem

Gender made it harder to succeed in their job

They’ve experienced sexual harassment

SEXISM UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Women, underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and related fields, are exposed to sexism throughout their education and careers.

In a University of Texas survey, women reported being sexually harassed* by faculty and staff within their field of study across 13 of its institutions.

Women make up a large share of workers in health fields (especially in jobs requiring four years or less of education) and a smaller share in computer science and engineering.

Women in scientific professions in workplaces with larger proportions of male colleagues report more discrimination and harassment.

HARASSMENT AT S C H O O L

U.S. WORKPLACE R E P R E S E N TAT I O N

DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT AT WORK

on sexual harassment accusations against prominent astronomer Geoff

Marcy, then at the University of California, Berkeley. Marcy was so noto-

rious that women there discouraged other women from working under

him. But it’s so hard for women to get misconduct claims addressed that

when he finally was investigated and sanctioned, Marcy was found to

have violated sexual harassment policies on campus for almost a decade.

Ghorayshi tells me that since writing about Marcy, she has been

approached by dozens more women—evidence of “how prevalent this

is at major institutions in the United States and elsewhere.” In many

of the cases she has reported on, Ghorayshi says, the women involved

have left the field: “It’s about vulnerability, and who is vulnerable and

who is untouchable.”

The bottom line, says physicist Chapman, is that universities need to

think more carefully about their commitment to equality. “We can talk

all day long about family-friendly policies, but we are in total denial

about the fact that there is an actively hostile culture,” she tells me. “I

think it is endemic.”

In the sciences today, there remains this implicit assumption that the

careers of young women are disposable while those of older men must

be protected at all costs, even if that means covering up unacceptable

behavior and putting more people in harm’s way. As long as we tolerate

this situation, there’s a steep price to pay.

The damage is not only to individuals, which is terrible enough. The

damage is also to science.j