How WISE university programs can help to build an inclusive environment in science

Programs specialized for women in STEM can help to identify general strategies for building a welcoming university environment

Women pursuing post-secondary studies in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields often feel isolated and unwelcome.

A 2013 study by Ramsey and colleagues explored the factors that can help create a more welcoming university environment for women in STEM.

In the first study, 70 women students in STEM at the University of Michigan completed a questionnaire about their academic environments. 29 of the participants belonged to a specialized residential program for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), allowing for a comparison between groups.

Students in the WISE program felt a greater sense of belonging in STEM, and identified themselves with the field more than non-WISE students. Non-WISE students felt more targeted by discrimination and bias around women in STEM and felt a higher sense of belonging when they had role models to look up to and seek guidance from.

The study identified three main factors that made the WISE environment more welcoming: messages about women in STEM, peer role models and visible STEM identifiers such as pencils or clothing with STEM messages. The second study showed that these factors can also positively impact students more generally in a traditional non-WISE academic program.

This research demonstrates how a welcoming environment can be created that can drastically impact the post-secondary experience for women in STEM. Specialized WISE programs foster a sense of belonging, making many women in STEM feel more accepted in their chosen field of study. Furthermore, simple actions such as advertising of women in STEM events or distributing pens or badges with messages about women students in STEM can be effective even in non-WISE programs to create a welcoming academic environment.

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Study Details

Sample size(s): Study 1 = 70. Study 2 = 137

Participants: Study 1 — female college students in the WISE program (24 white, 1 asian, 2 african american, 2 hispanic), and female college students taking intro STEM courses (26 white, 8 asian, 3 african american, 3 hispanic, 1 native american). Study 2 — female students in first yeaer STEM-major courses (86 white, 27 asian, 13 african american, 2 hispanic, and 9 “other”; age range of 17–34)

Design: Quantitative, survey

Reference:

Ramsey, L. R., Betx, D. E., & Sekaquaptewa, D. (2013). The effects of an academic environment intervention on science identification among women in STEM. Social Psychology Education, 16, 377–397

Summarized by WinSights team members: Emily Ana Butler, Bianca Dreyer, Jacqueline & Catherine Palm