Considers ideas for making women more visible in science

1. On the importance of WIPS not
being wimps
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology
University of Oxford
@deevybee
WIPS talks : Women in the Psychological Sciences
http://deevybee.blogspot.co.uk/

2. A journalist calls you at work and asks if you will come
and be interviewed on BBC Breakfast TV about a story
relevant to your area
Which option best matches your reaction?
• Proud to be asked and to have opportunity to put
your point of view
• You haven’t really got the time, but feel you should
agree
• You decline because you really don’t feel qualified
to do it
• Blind panic at the prospect that you could be made
to look an idiot

3. You receive an invitation to give an all-expenses paid
presentation at a major international conference in 9 months
time.
Which option best matches your reaction?
• Excitement at the fabulous opportunity
• Pleased but worried how you will fit this into your busy
life
• Initial pleasure at the invitation immediately followed
by anxiety
• Can’t do it: they’d just find out that you are an imposter
who doesn’t really know very much

4. You go to a seminar where an eminent speaker
appears to have missed an alternative explanation for
a key result
• Hand shoots up: important question; you don’t
want to miss this opportunity
• You raise the point if there aren’t lots of other
questions
• You assume that if your point is correct someone
else will make it
• You would rather the ground swallowed you up
than that you should publicly question the speaker
How do you respond at question time?

5. The problem
Women in science are under-represented:
• As media experts
• As plenary speakers/panellists in conferences
• In top jobs
• On social media (?)

6. Societal
pressures
Institutional
practices
Biased
selection
processes
Women’s
self-
perception

7. Important!
• Focus here on women’s self-perception does NOT mean I think women are to
blame for inequality
• This is just one factor in a complex causal network
• But it tends not to get talked about precisely because people worry it implies we
are blaming women for their own situation
• Gender influences on self-perception are real and we need to think about
whether we can alter them – but this is just one approach to an issue that also
needs social/institutional changes

8. Strategies for Breaking the Cycle
• Increase conscious awareness of bias and how bias
can affect evaluation
– Implicit Association Test:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
• Develop more explicit criteria (less ambiguity)
• Alter institutional policies and practices
• Increase sustained interaction
• Increase critical mass
Is there
anything else
individuals
can do?

9. “At a public conference I won’t serve on a panel of two people
or more unless there is at least one woman on the panel, not
including the Chair”
http://www.owen.org/pledge

11. http://allmalepanels.tumblr.com/

12. http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003903

13. But also need to address....
Schemas
Expectations or stereotypes that influence our judgments
of others (regardless of our own group)
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/80/

14. 1. Schemas are key aspect of cognition
• Instead of processing all information, process some salient
information and fill in defaults
• Allow efficient, if inaccurate, processing of information
• Defaults will be derived from experience/exposure, so can be
heavily influenced not just by own experience, but by
advertising, media, narratives, etc
• Unlikely to change unless experience/exposure changes
• Schemas may conflict with consciously held, explicit, attitudes

15. 2. Schemas misrepresent individuals, even if they
accurately represent averages
• Suppose there is a large gender difference on a desirable trait, X
• Our schema will incorporate this, so we will tend to assume women higher on X
than men
• But there will be men who score within same range as typical women, and vice
versa
• We should judge people on their true attributes, rather than those of their
gender

16. 3. Gender schemas held by women and men
• Men seen as more competent and able than women
• More favourable responses to male leaders
• More attention and deference to men

17. 4. Cumulative impact of gender schemas
• Most effect sizes are small
• But small-scale disadvantages cumulate over
time
R.F. Martell, D.M. Lane & C. Emrich (1996). Male-female
differences: a computer simulation. American Psychologist
51:157-158
In a hypothetical organization of 8 levels,
with 50:50 ratio of men:women at start,
giving a 1% advantage for men at each
level yields 65% male at the top level

18. 5. Gender schemas affect self-perception
* All generalisations of this kind need to be read as statements
about averages: there can be wide variation around means,
and much overlap between males and females
Women view selves as less competent*
• Have less confidence in their own abilities: “imposter
syndrome”
• Are more anxious about drawing attention to
themselves
• Concern about appearing pushy/aggressive
This feeds into process of cumulative disadvantage

19. Conference organiser: Who shall I invite?
No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
NEXT TIME
Response

20. Since schemas are derived in part from data, if we
want to change the schema, we need to change the
data
Can we disrupt disadvantageous schemas by being
more willing to put our heads above the parapet?
Two small steps toward greater visibility:
Debating in public
Debating on social media
Logical conclusion

22. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that
shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding
Proverbs 17:28
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool
than to open it and remove all doubt
attr. Mark Twain
Reasons people gave for not speaking out
1. It’s risky

23. Should you ask a Question
during a seminar?
Based on www.phdcomics.com
Do you
actually
HAVE a
question?
Are you
sure that
it’s not a
dumb
question?
Are you
sure the
speaker
hasn’t
already
answered
it?
Are you
the Chair,
asking a
question
because
there is an
awkward
silence?
OK, you
have a
legitimate
question.
Do you
actually
care about
the
answer?
FINE! Ask
your
question!
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Are you
trying
to
show
off?
No
Yes
Go for
it
Maybe
I don’t think so
Thank God.
Please ask the
question and
let’s get out of
here!
Yes
Not really. I just
want to show off
2. It’s showing off

24. 3. Overt criticism is uncomfortable

25. Tips for speaking out
• Reconceptualising proactive approach: changing
people’s schema – important not just for you but
the generation coming up behind
• Reconceptualising criticism – learning opportunity
• Easier if in mutual support network
• Gets easier with practice: Prepares you for high-
stakes situations when it is important to speak out

26. Social media: an alternative
format for finding your voice
Advantages
• Can take part in discussions in short time scale, but
with enough time to think and check before
responding
• Interaction with much broader range of people
than in regular academic life
Disadvantages
• Need to develop a thick skin (trolls)
• Resistance from the scientific establishment

27. “Tone” wars

28. Anne Scheel: Asked why fewer women engage in discussion on social media
N.B. no scientific evidence, so this is her opinion
• Women tend to be much less confident about their knowledge/reasoning,
• At the same level of confidence as men, women feel that they have more to
lose.
• Online discussions can appear more rude than direct conversation
“….”Imposter syndrome therapy”: I think the trick is to just tell yourself again
and again that:
a) Nobody is going to kill you and
b) 80% of others don’t have more of a clue than you do, just a bigger mouth”.
https://cogtales.wordpress.
com/2016/10/20/an-
interview-with-a-next-
generation-methodological-
freedom-fighter/

29. My view
• Could use the female schema to advantage:
• If women in general dislike aggression, then involvement
of more women in these debates may help maintain a
civil tone, and move away from high testosterone-
charged confrontations

30. Conclusions
• Influence of schemas is just one
aspect of pressures against
gender equality, but it is one
that we can do something about
• Schemas can be modified so
women more comfortable with
making themselves visible in scientific discourse
• We owe it to the next generation to attempt this:
the more they see that it is possible to engage
publicly – whether in Q&A or on social media – the
more we will alter perceptions
• Remember: incremental changes have impact!