Dive Summary:
- Multiple studies have found that many women don't feel welcome in laboratories and science departments, and a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence that a bias against female students may exist among scientists of both genders.
- The study was based on evaluations of hypothetical student applications for a lab manager position, where the materials were identical in every way except that half of them featured a male name and the other half, a female name.
- The hypothetical male student received higher ratings in all criteria, and the studies authors wrote that the differences were statistically significant and "suggest that subtle gender bias is important to address because it could translate into large real-world disadvantages in the judgment and treatment of female science students."
From the article:
Study after study finds that many women feel unwelcome in laboratories and science departments, even after considerable progress in encouraging women to study science and technology fields. As these studies come out, there are almost always skeptics who say that whatever gender imbalance exists could well reflect different choices made, on average, by men and women, or who say that individual men are rising on their merits, not sexism. But a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers evidence of bias among scientists -- male and female scientists alike -- against female students. ...