Advocates & Allies Resources

Allyship

Title Summary

The Straight Cis Men at A Corporate Gym Helped Save My Trans Soul

The straight cis men at a corporate gym helped save my trans soul. 

Take Action: Demand Justice For The Murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, Among Countless Others

We must fight for justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and too many other black lives lost due to widespread, systemic, anti-black racism. But beyond demanding accountability, we must join the fight against structural racism.

A Disability-Rights Consultant and Social Worker Explains How To Check Your Ableism Every Day

There are many ways you can check your own ableism, which is intentional or unintentional discrimination against those with a disability and in favor of able-bodied people.

What is Deadnaming, and How To Avoid It

This article describes what deadnaming means, why it's harmful, and how to be sensitive, supportive, and respectful when discussing and speaking with trans people.

Diversity and Unconscious Bias

Title Summary
Is It a Microaggression? (2020) Microaggressions, microbullying, and bullying are the silent destroyers of a university's climate. It is crucial to both educate your departmental or institutional culture about microaggressions and help your faculty and staff understand what they are, what they are not, and how they work.
Racial and Gender Bias Plague Postdoc Hiring (2019) This article talkes about the differences in how postdocs are viewed based on name alone—despite identical CVs. According to a new study that unearths evidence of racial bias in biology and a combination of gender and racial bias in physics, highlighting both the pervasive nature of various biases in science as well as important disciplinary differences.
The Author of "White Fragility" Doesn't Think "Most White People Care About Racial Injustice" (2020) Robin DiAngelo, the author of "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," doesn't mince words. "I actually don't think that most white people care about racial injustice. I really don't," she says.
How To Respond to Racial Microaggressions When They Occur (2020) In light of the aforementioned challenges in responding to microaggressions, we developed the R.A.V.E.N–a framework that is particularly useful when responding to microaggressions that occur in public (physical and online) spaces.
Without Inclusion, Diversity Initiatives May Not Be Enough (2017)

Focus on minority experiences in STEM, not just numbers. Diversity among scientists can foster better science, yet engaging and retaining a diversity of students and researchers in science has been difficult

Test Yourself for Hidden Bias 

Hidden Bias Tests measure unconscious, or automatic, biases. Your willingness to examine your own possible biases is an important step in understanding the roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society

Implicit Association Test

Implicit association tests. 

Tools for Change | Boosting the Retention of Women in the STEM Pipeline

This study details how gender bias plays out in everyday workplace interactions in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It is based on in-depth interviews with 60 women scientists of color (chiefly professors), and a survey of 557 women scientists (of all races).

Climate and Culture

Title Summary
Leadership To Change A Culture of Sexual Harassment (2020)

The U.S. National Science Foundation is implementing and refining policies aimed at combatting harassment When we look at surveys of the scientific community, we see an overall trend: The presence of women, minorities, and other groups that have been historically subject to harassment tapers off in later career stages

Women Don't Ask? Women Don't Say No? Bargaining and Service in the Political Science Profession

This article examines the dual problems of "women don't ask" and "women don't say no" in the academic profession.

Why Colleges and Universities Need to Care About Gender Bias

Gender bias falls into four basic patterns. Naming them makes it easier to spot them, and having a common language to describe the different types of bias makes it harder for others to shrug off or ignore complaints.

Gender Differences in Research Reporting

Disparities for women in medicine are well documented, and large gaps exist at high levels of leadership.12 This begs the question: what mechanisms drive women's persistent under-representation in the most senior, visible, and celebrated ranks of the profession, and how might these be targeted? 

 

Recommended Readings from Ally Workshops

Special thanks to our colleagues at North Dakota State University for compiling and sharing the list below with us.

Title Summary
Men Faculty Gender-Equity Advocates: A Qualitative Analysis of Theory and Praxis (2015)

As part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant, North Dakota State University (NDSU) created a program of men faculty Advocates to engage in gender-equity/climate improvement efforts.

Male Advocates and Allies: Promoting Gender Diversity in Technology Workplaces (2013)

This report, sponsored by NCWIT's Workforce Alliance, provides an inside look into how men think about and advocate for diversity in the technical workplace.
Q&A with Carol S. Dweck. (2013) Carol SDweck, a psychologist at Stanford University, has done extensive research on why women tend to avoid careers in math and science.
The One Word Men Never See in Their Performance Reviews(2014)

Kieran Snyder examines the double standards in the way male and female employees are evaluated.

Turning Down an Endowed Lectureship Because Their Gender Ratio is Too Skewed Towards Males (2014)

Turning down an endowed lectureship because their gender ratio is too skewed towards males.

Women in Tech: It's Not Just a Pipeline Problem (2014)

This article talks about how the number of women in tech is not just a pipeline problem. 

Gendered Skepticism (2015)

New study on online comments suggests big gap in the way men and women perceive evidence of gender bias in sciences.

When Talking About Bias Backfires (2014)

The assumption is that when people realize that biases are widespread, they will be more likely to overcome them. But new research suggests that if we're not careful, making people aware of bias can backfire, leading them to discriminate more rather than less.

Male Executives Don't Feel Guilt, See Work-Life Balance As A Women's Problem (2014)

A revealing—and depressing—article in this month's Harvard Business Review shows that no matter how much power female executives have accrued, or how much lip service male executives might publicly pay, family issues are still seen as a female problem.

Quality of Evidence Revealing Subtle Gender Biases in Science is in the Eye of the Beholder (2015)

Growing evidence revealing a gender bias against women—or favoring men—within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) settings is provocative and raises questions about the extent to which gender bias may contribute to women's underrepresentation within STEM fields. 

Does Diversity-Valuing Behavior Result in Diminished Performance Ratings for Nonwhite and Female Leaders?

We suggest that this race- and sex-based status and power gap persists, in part, because ethnic minority and female leaders are discouraged from engaging in diversity-valuing behavior. 

Old Boys' Lab (2014)

Where are the women in America's greatest scientific laboratories?

How To Get Women On Panels (2014)

Study finds significant impact of having a female voice on the committees that put together scientific symposiums.

The Matilda Effect in Science: Awards and Prizes in the US, 1990s and 2000s (2012)

While women's receipt of professional awards and prizes has increased in the past two decades, men continue to win a higher proportion of awards for scholarly research than expected based on their representation in the nomination pool.

Online Students Give Instructors Higher Marks If They Think Instructors Are Men (2014)

We found that the instructor whom students thought was male received higher ratings on all 12 traits, regardless of whether the instructor was actually male or female," MacNell says. "There was no difference between the ratings of the actual male and female instructors

Exposing Hidden Bias At Google z92014)

Google's campus in Mountain View, Calif. The company, whose work force is 70 percent male, is trying to make its employees aware of how unconscious biases can affect hiring and promotion decisions. Credit...

Is The Professor Bossy or Brilliant? Much Depends on Gender (2015)

Men are more likely to be described as a star, knowledgeable, awesome or the best professor. Women are more likely to be described as bossy, disorganized, helpful, annoying or as playing favorites.

The Science of Why Cops Shoot Young Black Men(2014)

The Science of Why Cops Shoot Young Black Men
And how to reform our bigoted brains.

How Not To Be A Jerk To Women In STEM(2013)

The treatment of women in STEM fields has been a pretty hot topic over the past couple of years — be they in science, math, engineering, programming or other STEM fields, it seems like more women than ever are becoming increasingly vocal about the systemic sexism that exists in their fields in an effort to change it.

Not All Men: How Discussing Women's Issues Gets Derailed

The following article is a discussion about violence, violence against women, and the oppression women face every day.

Gender Bias at Work Turns Up in Feedback

When participants in corporate workshops about unconscious bias are asked which of two candidates they would pick to replace a top performer in their organization, about 90% select the person described in terms related to individual initiative--the same words that turned up more often in the men's performance reviews .

STEMinist: Voices of women in science, tech, engineering, and math.

Blog profiles.
So You Call Yourself An Ally: 10 Things All "Allies" Need To Know (2013)

10 Things All 'Allies' Need to Know.

Michigan Tech is a globally recognized technological university that educates students, advances knowledge, and innovates to improve the quality of life and to promote mutual respect and equity for all people within the state, the nation, and the global community. 

MTU Strategic Planning Framework for DEIS