Thoughts On Racism – Underrepresentation In STEM
I work in Information Technology, an historically male dominated industry and in recent years the drive to encourage women and girls into STEM industries has increased enormously. Rightly so, because the pipeline of young female talent in these areas is still woefully low. However, when I look at the demographics in the IT industry especially in senior IT positions I see that the dominance of males in these positions becomes even more stark. The bias in IT and in all other STEM industries always been and continues to on men.
In a recent article Dr Jasmin Scarlett tentatively describes what she believes could be the reason for her being unable to find a suitable full time research post. She says in this article.
“I feel almost paranoia that it is because of the colour of my skin. Because the feedback I constantly get has been: ‘Your CV is great, you are great in the interview, but there’s someone that’s got that little bit extra’ – and those people have been white.’” Dr Jazmin Scarlett
Yes she is Black, and because of the colour of her skin many Black women and men are overlooked for positions we are more than capable to fill. Rarely are we successful at achieving senior STEM positions and for Jasmin she faces a “double whammy” because she is also female. When looking at other intersections of LGBTQ+, ableism, etc., it is clear that there are significant barriers to be overcome not by those at these intersections, but by those in a position to make the decision to overcome their conscious and unconscious biases that drive homogeneous decision making.
Finally to those underrepresented individuals that are successful at securing a position, recognise your indoctrinated unconscious (or even conscious) bias and consider us of the global majority who still find it extremely difficult to break in to STEM and especially senior STEM positions.
