Assessing and Improving Girls' and Women's Math and STEM Identity (2025-2026)

Background 

Women are still underrepresented in STEM. This occurs not because women lack STEM abilities, but because stereotypes, biases and discrimination drive them away. At the college and career stages, underrepresentation of women in STEM has several causes. Among the most critical are a biased, hostile environment for women and a lack of female role models. Existing initiatives addressing this gender gap tend to focus on three approaches: skills development, exposure to diverse STEM careers and connection to STEM mentors and role models. This project focuses on a fourth approach: preparation for gender bias, i.e., building awareness of systemic obstacles women face in STEM (bias literacy) and developing both practical gender bias response strategies and positive STEM identities.  

Research has found that preparation for bias can be protective for ethnoracial minority parents and students as they encounter racial discrimination and is most effective when it is paired with interventions that also enhance individuals’ pride as members of the marginalized group. 

The underrepresentation of women scientists on Wikipedia is one stark example of gender bias in STEM representation. In fact, less than 20% of Wikipedia biographies are about women, and 80% of Wikipedia editors are men. Current efforts to ameliorate this disparity include WikiProject Women in Red, a volunteer effort to expand articles on women’s biographies, works and issues. 

Project Description 

Building on the work of previous teams, this team will implement and assess a preparation for bias curriculum for undergraduate and graduate students. It includes three components: bias literacy (building awareness of causes of the gender gap in STEM); bias response strategies (building skills to navigate and overcome these barriers); and empowerment (nurturing pride in students’ identities as women in STEM through research and public dissemination of the accomplishments of women scientists, mathematicians and engineers). Team members will read literature, discuss bias response strategies and conduct research on “hidden figures in STEM” to contribute to WikiProject Women in Red.  

Team members will review interviews with STEM women conducted in spring and summer 2025 to identify examples of STEM professionals’ preparation for bias. They will then develop and refine an interview questionnaire for a larger study to investigate how preparation for bias correlates with persistence in STEM.  

The project team will also continue to analyze data on personal beliefs about causes of the gender gap in STEM. Using data collected from both middle schoolers and adults, the team will investigate how demographic factors may predict beliefs about the gender gap. 

Team members will also facilitate existing summer workshops for middle school girls. Through these workshops, middle school girls come to campus for 10 half-days to investigate a new math problem through discussion and physical demonstration and visit a woman-run lab on Duke’s campus to expose participants to a range of diverse STEM jobs and relatable scientists.  

Anticipated Outputs 

Wikipedia articles; preparation for bias program curriculum; surveys and interview protocols; research publications 

Student Opportunities 

Ideally, this project team will include 4 graduate students and 20 undergraduate students from a diverse set of majors and career interests, including STEM fields, education, psychology and gender issues. A graduate student with a background in quantitative methods analysis would be helpful to coordinate data cleaning and analysis. All team members should be enthusiastic about increasing the visibility of women in STEM. 

Team members will gain research skills and will have the opportunity to analyze collected data and write up results. Participants will develop gender bias literacy and build a strong peer network.  

In Fall 2024, the team will meet on Tuesdays from 3:05-4:20 p.m.

Project team members may also have the opportunity to direct summer workshops for middle school girls and refine materials for those workshops based on work done by previous team members. This opportunity will be part of the project’s optional summer component. 

Timing 

Summer 2025 – Spring 2026 

• Summer 2025 (optional): Conduct two-week workshop for middle school girls; refine pre/post-tests; refine bias curriculum preparation; refine surveys  
• Fall 2025: Prepare for bias data collection; participate in weekly classes on bias curriculum; select research focus; research historical STEM women; begin analysis of collected data; give final presentations 
• Spring 2026: Continue weekly classes on bias curriculum; create data visualizations; research and interview contemporary STEM women; post WikiProject articles 

Crediting 

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding available 

See earlier related team, Aspiring STEM Professionals Promoting Gender Equity in STEM (2024-2025). 

 

_{Image: Participating middle schoolers (GEMs) creating their own Eulerian graphs, courtesy of Sophia Santillan}