WomenofColorinthePlanetaryScienceWorkforce:Generalpar7cipa7onandmembershipwithinspacecra<missionteams LynnaeC.Quick(SmithsonianIns7tu7on),
SerinaDiniega(JetPropulsionLab,CaliforniaIns7tuteofTechnology)
DemographicsofthePlanetaryScienceworkforcedonotmatchUSdemographics
JulieA.RathbunPSI/[email protected]/LokiVolcano
WomenonscienceteamsofPlanetaryrobo2cmissions
• Since2001,percentageofwomenonmissionshasremainedflat(bestfitslope=-0.07),despiteanincreaseinthenumberofwomeninplanetaryscience[4,5]
• 2001-2016,averagepercentageofwomenonteams15.8%
• Ofthe15.8%ofwomenonteams,mostarewhitewomen
Recommenda2ons
Refs:2011PlanetaryScienceWorkforceSurvey[1],2010USCensus[2],USPopula7onpredic7ons[3]
PlanetaryScien7
stPipeline
References:[1]White,et.al.2011(hNp://lasp.colorado.edu/home/mop/files/2015/08/Report.pdf).[2]2010USCensusBrief(hNp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf).[3]Passel,J.S.andCohnD.(2008)USPopula7onProjec7ons:2005-2050,(hNp://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/85.pdf).[4]Rathbun,J.A.,etal.(2015)DPS,312.01[5]Rathbun,J.A.(2016)DPS,332.01[6]LeslieS.-J.etal.,2015,Science,347(6219),262-265.[7]Nielsen,M.W.,2016.Sci&Pub.Pol.,43(3),386-399.[8]McCoy,D.L.,etal.,2015.J.DiversityHigherEd.,8(4),225-242.[9]Guarino,C.M.&V.Borden,2017,Res.InHigherEd.,58(6),672-684.
0
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20
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40
50
60
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100
White Asian Black Hispanic
Percen
tage
PlanetaryScience2011
US2010
US2050
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
US2010
PlanetaryScience
2011
Women Men
GeneralPopula7on
Forthisstudy,wearefocusedontheneteffect--nottheindividualmanyfactorsandinfluences.
Men WomenWhite 1661 554La7nx 19 6Black 19 6Asian 134 45Other 76 26
Numbersofplanetaryscien7stsarecalculatedbasedon[1]:Usedtotalnumberofscien7stscontacted,responserate,andpercentagethatself-iden7fyasplanetaryscien7ststocalculate2525totalplanetaryscien7sts.Determinedtotalnumbersineachdemographicbasedonreportedpercentagesandassumingthatpercentageofwomenisconstantacrossraciallines(percentagesshownatle<).OurowncountofBlackandLa7nxplanetaryscien7stsshowsthatmendonotsignificantlyoutnumberwomenastheydoforwhitescien7sts.However,ourcountdoesagreethattherearesmallnumbersofplanetaryscien7stfrombothgroups.
What’sgoingintothepipeline?Assump7ons:1. Demographicsofthegroupgoingintothepipelinematches
the2010UScensusdistribu7on2. Numberofwhitemengoingin=numbercomingout.
Men WomenWhite 1661 1772La7nx 382 396Black 355 368Asian 146 152Other 62 65 Whatpercentageofeachgroupmakesit
fromtheUSpopula2on,throughthepipeline,tobecomeplanetaryscien2sts?
Successratemen
Successratewomen
White 100% 32%La2nx 5% 1.5%Black 5% 1.5%Asian 92% 30%Other n/a n/a
ExamplebarrierstoEntry• Assump7onofa“meritocracy”
system,andarelatedassump7onthatthatwellqualifiedminori7esfailtomakeitinsciencebecausetheyarenotgoodcandidates[6,7]
• “Color-blind”approachestomentoringofdiversestudentsislesseffec7ve[8]and,alongwithalackofracially-diverserolemodels,canbedetrimental.
• Alackofdiversitywithinthementor-popula7onenhancestheemo7onaland“service”laborrequestedfromthosepresent(andthisworkisundervalued)[9].
Notethatreferences[6-7,9]focusonlytheimpactofgender–however,allofthesebarriersmaymorestronglyaffectwomenofcolorand/orbecompoundedbyrace.
Theplanetaryscienceworkforceisnotnearlyasdiverseasthesocietyfromwhichmembershipisdrawnandthemajorityofourfundingcomes.Thereisclearlyapipelineproblemandthenbarriersforsuccessforwomeninplanetaryscience–andinpar(cular,forwomenofcolor.• AsianAmericansarerepresentedinplanetaryscienceatrates
comparabletowhitewomen,butmays7llbepoorlyrepresentedonspacecra<scienceteams
• WomenofColor(notincludingAsianwomen)arethemostunderrepresentedgroupinscience.
• Whitewomenaremuchcloserinrepresenta7ontowhitementhantowomenofcolor
• Forevery3whitementhatmakeitthroughthepipelinethereis1whitewomen.
• Forevery10whitewomenthatmakeitthroughthereareonly1-2womenofcolor.
• Morethan95%ofpoten2allytalentedwomenofcolorarebeingleIbehindandkeptoutoftheplanetarysciencecommunity.
• ThelownumbersofwomenofcolorinthefielddirectlyaffectsthenumberofwomenofcoloronspacecraIscienceteams.
• Purelygender-focusedeffortsareunlikelytosufficientlyhelpwomenofcolorremaininthefield.
• FuturedemographicstudiesofthePlanetaryScienceworkforceshouldconsiderandreportraceandgendersimultaneouslytodeterminetheroleofintersec7onalityonpar7cipa7oninplanetaryscience.
• Recruitmentandreten2oneffortsneedtofocusonthegroupsthatarethemostunderrepresentedinplanetaryscience:racialminoritygroups.
• Morestudiesareneededintothebarrierstoequalrepresenta7onalongtheen7repipeline,includingwithinplanetaryscience.
PlanetaryScien7sts
WomenofColor(notincludingAsianwomen)arethemostunderrepresentedgroupinscience,beingmoreunderrepresentedthanwhitewomenbyafactorof10.Therepresenta2onofotherracialiden22es,suchasindigenouspeoples,weresolowthattheywerenotincludedinthisanalysis,atestamenttogrossunderrepresenta2oninthefield.
Conclusions
