the computer scientist and the cleaner v4
TRANSCRIPT
The Computer Scientist and the
CleanerIan Gent
University of St Andrews
This is a DRAFT talk version 4For more context please visit
httpiangentblogspotcouk201310the-computer-scientist-and-cleanerhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
or
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
If yoursquore not uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is not a good talk
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk reallyA short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
What is this talk really
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense but something I think you should be exposed to
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull Let me tell you a story
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask you a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
ldquoOne of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversaryrdquo
bull Let me ask Google a question
bull Who forgot the anniversary
bull Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
C
Unmoderated image search for ldquoComputer Scientistrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Unmoderated image search for ldquoCleanerrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Who forgot the anniversary
ldquoThe computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary But their marriage was strong and he forgave herrdquo
bull Look inside your brain
bull Did you think the woman was the cleaner
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
A short history of sexism in St Andrews
bull The University is 600 years old yet
bull Its first female professor was a computer scientist
bull Prof Ursula Martin CBE now at QMUL
bull Yes a 600 year old Universityrsquos first female professor hasnrsquot retired yet
bull For 579 years we didnrsquot have a female Prof
bull Until 2004 the Rules of Golf for women were made by a male only club in St Andrews
bull For 595 years we didnrsquot have a female Principal
bull Prof Louise Richardson
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender Balance CS1002
Woman
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Teaching Fellows
Women
Man
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Lecturers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Senior Lecturers amp Readers
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Gender BalanceCS Professors
Women
Men
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Letrsquos be clear
bull The University of St Andrews does not have sexist hiring policies
bull We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
bull httpwwwst-andrewsacukhrediinclusiverec
bull The gender balance in St Andrews CS
bull reflects general imbalance in the discipline
bull and itrsquos a big problem
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The most important problem for computing
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Why the most important problem
Why should we have more women in CS
I only know of two good reasons but they are overpoweringly good
bull Itrsquos right
bull Computer Science would be better
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos Rightbull If a woman doesnrsquot want to do CS thatrsquos fine
bull But
bull CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
bull If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out
bull That is NOT fine
bull Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesnrsquot happen
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Computer Science Would Be Better
bull ldquoComputings too important to be left to menrdquo
Karen Spaumlrck Jones 1935-2007
bull Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
bull She invented a key technique for internet search
bull 30 years before the World Wide Web
bull Donrsquot throw away half the worldrsquos talentsKaren Spaumlrck Jones image Wikipedia
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
But is it a problem nowbull In the past this was a problem
bull And it still is
bull An almost random example
bull Science facultyrsquos subtle gender biases favor male students
bull Proceedings National Academy of Science USA 2012
bull httpwwwpnasorgcontentearly201209141211286109
bull The change from the past is that gender biases are now subtle
bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objectiveOn the other hand research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24 25) Thus by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science technology engineeringand mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized) the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic scienceA number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination
is likely Science is robustly male gender-typed (26 27) resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28) some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29) and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19) Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15) they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20) However thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members) and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21) writing nonscience articles (22) and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23)Thus whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-
nation from faculty members remains unknown The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window because studentsrsquo expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30 31) There-fore we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32 33)
Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias To do so we investigated whetherfaculty membersrsquo perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager positionAdditionally we examined the role of faculty membersrsquo preex-isting subtle bias against women We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding womenrsquos lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students These generalized subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their genderThe present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and if such a bias were discoveredreveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities Assecondary measures which are related to hiring we assessed (i)perceived student competence (ii) salary offers which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoringOur hypotheses were that Science facultyrsquos perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability salaryconferral and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A) Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B) Hiring
discrimination against the female student would be mediated (ieexplained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C) andParticipantsrsquo preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (ie impact) results such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female studentbut unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D)
ResultsA broad nationwide sample of biology chemistry and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position All participants receivedthe same materials which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions Using previously validated scales participants rated thestudentrsquos competence and hireability as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the studentFaculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details)
Student Gender Differences The competence hireability salary con-ferral and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender male female) two (faculty gender male female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA In each case the effect of student genderwas significant (all P lt 001) whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P gt 019) Tests ofsimple effects (all d gt 060) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 389 P lt0001] and less hireable [t(125) = 422 P lt 0001] than the identicalmale student (Fig 1 and Table 1) Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 377 P lt 0001] The mean starting salary offered thefemale student $2650794 was significantly lower than that of$3023810 to the male student [t(124) = 342 P lt 001] (Fig 2)These results support hypothesis AIn support of hypothesis B faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1) Tests of simple effects (all d lt 033) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 006 P = 095] or hireable [t(62) = 041P = 069] than did male faculty Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 029 P = 077] or a higher salary[t(61) = 114 P = 026] to the female student than did their male
Fig 1 Competence hireability and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender) All student gender differences are significant(P lt 0001) Scales range from 1 to 7 with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable Error bars represent SEs nmale student condition = 63nfemale student condition = 64
2 of 6 | wwwpnasorgcgidoi101073pnas1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al
bull Male students were ranked higher in everything
bull The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs
bull
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The lowest difficulty setting there is
John Scalzi httpwhateverscalzicom20120515straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is
bull Itrsquos really hard for straight white men to understand the problem
bull sadly itrsquos really easy for women to
bull John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
bull Being a straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is in the game of life
ldquoYou can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on The player who plays on the ldquoGay Minority Femalerdquo setting Hardcorerdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
What can we do
bull We canrsquot change today the gender imbalance
bull We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be
bull We can do three simple things
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Three Simple Things
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to women in CS
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to disabled in CS
2 Donrsquot use ableist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2 Donrsquot use racist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS
2 Donrsquot use classist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS
2 Donrsquot use mentalist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to transgendered people in CS
2 Donrsquot use cissexist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to older people in CS
2 Donrsquot use ageist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to gay people in CS
2 Donrsquot use homophobic language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to religious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Not just women
1 Donrsquot be a jerk to irreligious people in CS
2 Donrsquot use religionist language
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
None of the above
bull Even if it was ok to be a jerk to
bull Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
bull (itrsquos not ok to be a jerk to them)
bull How do you know theyrsquore all those things
bull eg Irsquom obviously older than you
bull is it so obvious Irsquom on antidepressants
bull httpwwwdepressedacademicsblogspotcom
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Back to Women
bull Going to return to focus on women
bull Not because other groups are not important
bull Just to make it easier to talk specifically
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
1 Donrsquot be a jerk
bull This is really simple to understand
bull Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread
bull Irsquom not going to provide examples
bull it would take too long
bull seriously itrsquos almost unimaginable how long it would take
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
2 Donrsquot use sexist language
bull I mean this in two ways
bull Donrsquot use language that implies CS people are men
bull leads to the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner
bull leads to females feeling excluded
bull and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
bull Donrsquot engage in sexist ldquobanterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
3You donrsquot get to decide
3 Understand that itrsquos not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2
bull This is really hard to understand
bull Maybe you think somebody shouldnrsquot be offended when they tell you they are
bull Tough Guess what they were offended
bull You only have two options
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I saidrdquo
bull ldquoIrsquom sorry Irsquoll try harder not to say things like that in futurerdquo
bull Never say ldquoHey itrsquos only banterrdquo
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Itrsquos not ldquobanterrdquobull Banter is apparently a free pass I can insult you but youre not
allowed to be insulted because its only banter I can be obscene but you cant be offended because its only banter No If youre a grown-up you know that your offensiveness may offend and you either accept that or you apologise and dont do it again Saying its only banter makes you not only an idiot but an idiot who cant take responsibility for his own jokes
Tom Chivers
httpblogstelegraphcouknewstomchiversscience100141906if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
The Hofstadter Analogybull If yoursquore not sure if language is sexist
bull swap men and women for black and white
bull If the result is obviously racist
bull the original was probably sexist
bull unless therersquos some very good reason the analogy doesnrsquot work
bull Eg A male only club made the rules of golf including for women
bull Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of golf including the rules for black people
bull I learnt this from
bull ldquoA person paper on the purity of languagerdquo Doug Hofstadter
bull httpwwwcsvirginiaedu~evanscs655readingspurityhtml
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Allies
bull We need male computer scientists to be ldquoAlliesrdquo
bull Men who think itrsquos important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science
bull httpgeekfeminismwikiacomwikiAllies
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Links and Resources
bull School of Computer Science Women in Computing Group
bull self-organised unofficial
bull University Policies and Links
bull Advice and Support Centre
bull University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
bull Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
bull Disability Equality Scheme
bull Policy on Trans Students amp Staff
bull How to Lodge a Complaint
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13
Do not get me wrongWhether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a first
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage
Wednesday 9 October 13