Learning to See Inequity in Science

Learning to see inequity in science is critical to anyone who is actively encouraging young people to invest their education, career, and life in the discipline. If the culture of science is grossly inequitable, why should students take the risk of entering this discipline over careers in other arenas? Many scholarly publications from the fields of psychology, science education, and sociology have described inequities in science; proposed theoretical frameworks for understanding them; and explored practical strategies for addressing such inequities, but progress in jettisoning these inequities from our discipline has been slow. ...If we, as stewards of our discipline, can learn to recognize and address these instances of inequity, we can do much to prevent their reoccurrence. As scientists who are also educators and role models to our students, our attention to these issues and our responses to them is likely much more important than we may generally recognize.