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Building an inclusive wave in marine science: Sense of belonging and Society for Women in Marine Science symposia
Citation:
Canfield, Katherine, A. Sterling, C. Hernandez, S. Chu, B. Edwards, D. Fontaine, J. Freese, M. Giroux, A. Jones, A. McCarty, H. Morrissette, H. Palevsky, C. Raker, A. Robuck, G. Serrato Marks, P. Thibodeau, AND A. Windle. Building an inclusive wave in marine science: Sense of belonging and Society for Women in Marine Science symposia. Progress in Oceanography. Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands, 218:103110, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103110
Impact/Purpose:
Diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice have all been a major focus in American society in recent years. The realm of science is no exception. While these efforts to improve diversity of scientists have been successful at lower levels of education, there is still minimal diversity among scientists with terminal degrees. This project looks specifically at gender diversity within marine sciences, and the experiences of women and gender-diverse people in the field. Based on survey data collected from participants in symposia hosted by the Society for Women in Marine Science, we identify shared challenges, training opportunities, and logistic improvements to create more inclusive symposia in the future. Intersectional considerations of the multiple identities researchers possess are an important focus for diversifying marine science and fostering belonging.
Description:
Achieving gender equity is a long-standing and ubiquitous challenge in marine science. Creating equitable experiences for all genders in marine science requires recognizing scientists’ intersectional identities, and how this leads to unique lived experiences of privilege and marginalization. One approach to increase equitable experiences for women in marine science is to create affinity groups where women can learn from each other, share their experiences, and provide support and mentorship. The Society for Women in Marine Science (SWMS) is one such organization, founded to amplify the work of early career women in marine science and create community, through events such as full-day symposium events. This study investigates the experiences of symposium attendees for four events held from 2018 through 2020, as reported in pre- and post-symposium surveys. We used quantitative analysis of the open-ended survey questions to examine the demographics of attendees and their fields of study. Qualitative thematic analysis identified the most effective aspects of the symposia, areas of logistical and content improvement for future symposia, and emphasized the unique challenges women in marine science experience. The majority of symposium attendees were white graduate students. Nearly all attendees identified as women, with a small number of men and non-binary individuals. Symposia attendees enjoyed opportunities for professional development and interactions with colleagues across career stages. We present recommendations for continuing to foster a sense of belonging in marine science and STEM more broadly, both specific to SWMS and transferable actions that can be applied for other affinity groups. These suggestions include empathetic event logistics, continual democratic evaluation, identity reflexivity among group leaders, and professional development activities targeted towards the unique needs of the affinity group. The positive responses received from SWMS’s adaptive integration of survey results into symposia demonstrate that incorporating these recommendations and findings will help create an inclusive wave in marine science.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Building an inclusive wave in marine science: Sense of belonging and Society for Women in Marine Science symposia