Fri, 08:30
Gender in Geoscience
Central to the session will be the sharing of lived experiences from geoscientists. These individual stories will provide valuable information on specific challenges faced by geoscientists of diverse gender, including solo status within a research group, navigating mentorship, and how microaggressions and discrimination inhibit career progression.
Besides pointing out challenges, the session will be dedicated to strategies and initiatives that have been employed for successfully promoting gender diversity in the geosciences. These would include discussion of programs that would help facilitate recruitment and retention efforts amongst women and gender diverse groups, such as mentorship networks, diversity scholarships, and targeted outreach. This session will also consider how policies and practices interact with one another to influence and provide an inclusive workplace culture, including flexible work arrangements, anti-discrimination training, and use of inclusive language at work.
A significant aspect that is to be discussed is that of intersectionality: how gender intersects with other dimensions of identity, such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability, in influencing the experiences of geoscientists. The session will examine how the compounding of intersecting identities exacerbates burdens on underrepresented groups and the need to incorporate these factors into the formulation of strategies for inclusivity.
The session will be concluded by a call to action. This may include anything from the highly influential, such as reasoned lobbying for policy changes and supporting initiatives that promote diversity, to becoming more aware of one's own biases and how these may impact colleagues. This is aimed at equipping the participants with knowledge and tools to help them actively contribute toward a more inclusive and fair geoscience community.
08:30–08:35
5-minute convener introduction
08:35–09:35
Presentations from speakers
09:35–10:05
Q&A from the audience
10:05–10:15
Wrap-up
Speakers
- Clara Barker, University of Oxford, Northern Ireland
- Francesca Cavallo
- Josue Millan, North Carolina Central University, United States of America
- Asmae Ourkiya, EGU, Germany
- Blair Schneider, Kansas, United States of America