PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND PRACTICES - COLUMN 175
the very groups which STEM fields like geosciences say that they want to attract. Equity-minded holistic review can help.
The American Geoscience Institute/ American Geophysical Union webinar, “Equity in Graduate Admissions,” pre- sented by Dr. Casey Miller of the College of Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Dr. Julie Posselt, USC Rossier School of Education, addressed some similar thoughts and concepts on achieving not only gender equality but also increasing the numbers of underrep- resented minorities admitted into STEM PhD programs. Casey Miller pointed out the significant disparity in the number of women and minorities who receive BS degrees in STEM subject and the number receiving PhDs. The amount of disparity and the overall number of degrees varies a good deal depending on the STEM subject. In the geosciences, Miller noted that women received about 38% of BS degrees and 33% of PhD degrees.1 Underrepresented minorities receive about 11% of the BS and 5% of the PhD degrees.
Casey Miller noted discrepancies between the letters of recommendations written for men and women. Those writ- ten for women tended to be shorter, lack basic information about the individual, lack indications of how well the letter writer knew the individual, and lack of concrete references to the individual’s achievements, traits, and accomplish- ments. These letters of recommendation were less likely to be aligned with the women’s research record and technical and other abilities. Miller also noted that most STEM underrepresented minority students attend public rather than pri- vate colleges and that there is frequently an unconscious bias favoring attendance at a “prestigious” institution.
Julie Posselt advocated a more holistic review process for women and underrepresented groups that included attention to academic preparation, schol- arly potential, alignment of applicant interests with a department’s programs, diversity considerations, and the need to pay attention to an applicant’s potential in addition to the applicant’s achieve- ments. Posselt noted that students from underrepresented groups may more fre- quently be: from less-selective colleges or universities, non-traditionally aged, switching fields midway through their
education, first-generation college stu- dents, from lower socio-economic back- grounds, people of color, and/or are women of all backgrounds.
While the webinar focused on “Equity in Graduate Admissions,” the highlight- ed factors are likely to be found in hiring and promotion reviews in the geoscience profession. Care should be taken to avoid the often-subtle biases involved in hiring and promotion decisions.
AusIMM’s 2020 survey of women in mining,
https://www.ausimmbulletin. com/feature/ausimm-women-in-mining- survey-2020-2/, reports on an annual survey of women’s participation in the natural resources sector, primarily in the Australasian region, AusIMM’s mem- bership focus. The survey’s findings are instructive at the whole industry, whole organization, office, site, team, and indi- vidual levels. The survey focuses on four key areas: profile and participation, on- site experience, perceptions and priori- ties, and future research focus. The most salient findings of the 2020 survey are:
• women report their own work- places are significantly more diverse and inclusive than the broader resources sector
• equal employment opportunities, workplace flexibility and indus- try leadership are key priorities for women in resources
• the sector can improve the pro- gression and retention of its female professionals by focus- ing on high quality, inclusive services and facilities on-site; support to help female profes- sionals throughout all stages of their personal and professional lives; and offering development opportunities to enhance best practice, prepare professionals for the future of mining, and connect current and prospective leaders.
A recurring theme is women’s expe- riences in working in remote locations including quality of toilet and shower facilities and childcare services, par- ticularly those working in fly-drive in, fly-drive out sites. I’d expect that single fathers working at these sites would have similar problems. Information about the distributions of age, seniority
level, annual salary, years in the sector, the working arrangement (full time, part time, student, consultant, retired, etc.), highest degree level, etc. are included in the survey results.
The AusIMM’s surveys of women in mining go into greater depth than similar AGI surveys of women’s par- ticipation in the geosciences. Overall, things are improving for women in the Australasian mining sector although more progress is needed. If you are inter- ested in this topic, please download the article from the AusIMM website.
Accessibility and inclusivity for
geoscientists with dis- abilities
On April 24, 2020 an AGU/AGI sponsored webinar, Field Trips for All: Accessibility and Inclusivity for Students with Disabilities, was presented by Anita Marshall of the University of Florida and Chris Atchison of the University of Cincinnati (
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2MxMg3aHscQ). Given the title, I expected that focus of the webinar would be the physically disabled. While the physically disabled were certainly discussed, a much broader array of dis- abilities were covered including color vision deficiency, blindness and low vision, learning disabilities, cognitive deficiencies, social and behavioral disor- ders, and hearing impairment. Specific issues with field trips and field camp include those with food restrictions due to allergies or religious obligations and those inexperienced in hiking, camping, and other basic field skills as discussed in the “Field trips and field camp” topic in PE&P column 174 in the previous TPG issue. Slide 9 of the Field Trips for All webinar lists 6 references for preparing inclusive field trips, including Atchison, C.L, et al., 2019, Accessibility and inclu- sion in the field: a field guide for central Arizona and Petrified Forest National Park in Pearthree, P.A., ed., GSA 2019 Phoenix Field Guides: Geological Society of America Field Guide 55, 1-23, DOI 10.1130/2019.0055(02).
The established rock hammer and field boots culture of geology is exclusive and marginalizing for those who cannot or do not go on hikes over rough terrain. In addition to missing out on outcrops
1. The AGI Geoscience Currents: Participation of women in the geoscience profession, Nov. 15, 2019:
www.americangeosciences.org/ geoscience-currents, cited by McFarland in his President’s Message, notes that in 2017 women received 43% of the geoscience under- graduate degrees and 39% of the geoscience graduate degrees.
44 TPG •
Jul.Aug.Sep 2020
www.aipg.org
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