On 20 July 2017, I was interviewed by Rachael Lallensack for Nature. The article, ‘Female Astronomers of Colour Face Daunting Discrimination,’ reports on new research, which finds that two-fifths report of women astronomers of colour feel unsafe at work, and 18% have concerns about attending conferences.
‘The latest study found that harassment and discrimination can have a heavy impact on an individual’s career decisions. Eighteen per cent of women of colour and 12% of white women reported avoiding a class, conference or professional event because they did not feel safe attending. Such events can help to foster professional networks, mentorship and opportunities for collaboration — connections that can advance a scientist’s career, says Zuleyka Zevallos, a sociologist at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
‘“If a culture of hostility remains in place, it doesn’t matter what we do at the individual level because the system is broken. The pipeline is broken,” says Zevallos, who helped to implement gender-education programmes at universities in her former position at the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra’ […]
“It’s time to pivot away from the conversation of, ‘Is gender equity and racism a problem in science?’, and shift to taking action,” Zevallos says. “We can’t afford to lose more women of colour, white women and under-represented minorities.”
Read more on Nature.
Nature 547, 266–267 (20 July 2017) doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22291
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Dr Zuleyka Zevallos - Sociology Prose 