Equal Opportunity Astronomy: Articles & Resources
Below are resources that Astronomers might find useful to learn more about the topic of Diversity and Equity in STEM. This includes resources geared towards a general audience as well as scientists, and astronomers specifically. Just like astronomy, a great deal of research has been done in this area of social science and social justice, and self-motivated education and literature research are essential to being an educated colleague and ally. This page can be a great resource for you to learn about some of that research, and share research you've found enlightening. The page highlights some scholarly and some popular resources but of course cannot be exhaustive. These resources should act as an entry point into a rich body of discourse. Below we have split various links into categories, from the basics to topical discussions.
Note: Many of the links below are written by and for a US-based audience, but it is not the intent of this page to focus on US-only Equal Opportunity efforts. We welcome diverse perspectives and contributions on equal opportunity topics from anywhere in the world.
Diversity 101: The Basics
Why is this topic important and relevent to astronomy? What are some of the basic terms I'll encounter as I learn about equal opportunity efforts in general?
- Introduction and Definitions of terms here
- When and how to speak up: No, you're not entitled to your opinion
- How workplace Climate Changes the Knowledge we Generate.
- Understanding some basic diversity concepts interactively: The Parable of the Polygons
- Five tips for being an Ally to a community you're not a part of, video
- The Devil Doesn't need your Advocacy
- Scientific American Article on How Diversity Makes Us Smarter
- An overview of the concept that racism is hate + power.
Show me the Data: Statistics & Studies on Under-Representation
- The AIP report on African-Americans and Hispanics among Physics & Astronomy Faculty
- Additional AIP reports on underrepresented groups in Physics and the Geosciences
- 2013 NSF report on Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering
- APS Statistics on Minorities and Women in Physics
- The (general) GRE and Its Predictive Validity for Graduate Student Success: a detailed, annotated bibliography compiled by the Graduate Diversity Program at UC Berkeley on the link between GRE scores and success in grad school / in research in general
- Report on Barriers to Faculty Diversity from the American Federation of Teachers' Higher Education Division
- Why astronomers are moving on from the GRE physics? A discussion of the test's biases against the underrepresented groups its ability to predict future success.
On Race & White Privilege
- The Angry Black Woman Required Reading List: a list of concise articles to learn about the basics on diversity from the perspective of people of color.
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Classic essay outlining everyday White Privilege which people of color most likely know well that white people don't often think about.
- Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege, an article about understanding what race privilege is in an era where racism persists
- How to Uphold White Supremacy by Focusing on Diversity & Inclusion, an article discussing how the idea of equality in liberalism can inherently undermine progress on racial equality. Note that this article can be difficult to grasp at first but has some very important points about how "inclusion" as a go-to term can be hurtful.
- What race has to do with Women in Astronomy, and important basic Q&A's about racism in Astronomy
- Minority? We want you to get a PhD, but we don't want you as a professor.
- Just stop talking about Race!, video
- The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, a keynote address given by Audre Lorde
- Racial Equity Tools, a collection of resources for those interested in understanding and fighting racism
- White Silence - white silence in discussions of race functions to maintain white power and privilege and must be challenged.
- Decolonizing Science Reading List - Ever-evolving reading list on the effects of colonialism and colonialist thinking in science and how to break out of that style of thinking.
On Gender Disparity & Sexism
- The Women In Astronomy Blog's series on Sexual Harassment:
- Stop Interrupting Me: Gender Bias, Conversation Dominance, and Listener Bias, a post about understanding sexist microaggressions in the workplace (in the context of the November 2014 incident where a prominent scientist working with a mission wore a shirt with nearly naked women on it while appearing on international television)
- Fighting the Gender Gap: Standardized Tests Are Poor Indicators of Ability in Physics, an article summarizing a session from the 1996 Joint APS.
- Basics on Gender Disparities in Rank/Salary: A look at the data via a Gender Tutorial
- General CSWA resources
- An annotated bibliography of recent studies on gender bias in academia
On Intersectionality
- Ain't I a woman? At the intersection of gender, race and sexuality, a guest post at WiA
- Laverne Cox Explains the Intersection of Transphobia, Racism and Misogyny, and what to do about it
- Women of Color in Astronomy and Astrophysics, AAS document describing barriers that WoC face in astronomy, and steps towards solutions
- Excellence As A Survival Strategy For Black Women In Academia, by a first-year graduate student at Penn State University. She studies authoritarian regimes, democratic breakdowns, protest movements, and the Middle East
- The Trouble with White Women and White Feminism on Racism Review
On LGBTQIA+
- Many wonderful resources on LGBTIQ topics and their relationship to Astronomy Research can be found on the webpage of the Working Group LGBTIQ Equality (WGLE) under the AAS website.
- WGLE's Best Practices Guide on Supporting LGBT+ Physicists & Astronomers
- Jessica Mink's interview with WGLE on being a Transgender Astronomer, and her follow-up post on the Women in Astronomy Blog
- The Gingerbread Person v2.0 for understanding the differences between Sex, Attraction, Gender Identity and Gender Expression.
- The LGBT Climate in Physics Report, courtesy of the American Physical Society's Ad Hoc Committee on LGBT Issues, released March 2016
On Ableism and Disability Justice
- #YesAllWomen, but not really: How Feminism Leaves the Disabled Behind
- More resources are listed on AstroBetter on the Making Astronomy Accessible and Mental Health wiki pages
On Classism
- Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person...
- How to Prep for Grad School While Poor
- Please don't try to play the `socioeconomic class' trump card
On Being Privileged and how to be a good Ally
- How to be a good ally and create a safe space
- Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting there is
On Education
- Best way for professors to get good student evaluations? Be male.
- Faculty Whiteness complicates the classroom
- The Values Affirmation Exercise: A simple way to dramatically improve performance in under-represented students
- Factors influencing the success of women in graduate astronomy programs
- What Makes A Physicist? What make women choose physics majors/careers
What to do!
- Learn about your unconscious biases by taking Harvard's Implicit Test(s)
- Impostor Syndrome: Understanding it and guide to Workshop by Astronomer
- Ten simple rules to achieve Conference Speaker Gender Balance
- The "Gray Zone" of Academic Ethics: A scenario sorting workshop with more information found here, here, and here.
- A guide to LGBT Safe Zone Training Workshops. 6. A guide to best practices in recruitment and selection for hiring a diverse workforce from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)
- A handy pamphlet on Unconscious Bias (what it is and how to address it) from AURA
- APS lists of Minority and Women speakers for, e.g., colloquia
- Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Graduate Students from UC Berkeley
- Recommended Departmental Outreach Efforts (Specifically from UC Berkeley, but generally of broad relevance)
Training
- The US-based National Center for Atmospheric Research's equity and inclusion training program.
Teaching Equity Concepts in the Astro|Physics Classroom
- Wouter Deconinck, William & Mary, "Gender and Race in the Physical Sciences"
- Brown University's student-created course, "Race & Gender in the Scientific Community"
- Ramón Barthelemy, Western Michigan University, "Race, Gender, Science" (PDF)
- Jeff Tecosky-Feldman and Beth Willman, Haverford, "The Persistent Lack of Diversity in the Sciences" (PDF)