Congratulations to grad student Emily Cyr for publishing her research on social networks and gender bias in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences!
Emily's paper, titled "Mapping social exclusion in STEM to men's implicit bias and women's career costs," suggests a straightforward and effective way to improve women's sense of fit in STEM workplaces: informal workplace friendships. With Dr. Bergsieker and her collaborators from the Engendering Success in STEM consortium, Emily found that men who had stronger implicit gender stereotypes were less likely to socially and informally include their female colleagues, and that even brief efforts of social inclusion (e.g., men chatting with female colleagues on breaks) were linked to improved engagement among women in STEM workplaces.
This press release from the University of Waterloo describes Emily's paper, which is available on the PNAS website. Congratulations, Emily!