Obstacles in Advancement of Young Female Geoscientists: Research Results from the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN)

While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the faces of scientific leaders in academia remain dominantly male. Women are currently underrepresented in tenure-track positions in Earth science departments at research universities. Additionally, women are less likely to have more senior positions within their academic institutions. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of early career women in the Earth sciences. We conducted a survey of ESWN members as part of an evaluation-with-research study that aims to determine the career needs of young female geoscientists. We also conducted a survey of the co-ed Earth Science Jobs list also run by ESWN and used its male and female members as comparison samples. The survey data provide insight into critical career junctures for women in geosciences and identify salient issues that institutions will need to address to successfully recruit, retain and promote women scientists. Prior research has shown that women are subjected to unintended and unrecognized biases that can have an ultimate impact on their productivity, advancement, and success. Our data corroborate these findings: women consistently rated the professional atmosphere in their departments and their interactions with colleagues less favorably than men. Moreover, women indicated lower rates of collaboration with colleagues in their unit compared to their male peers. Possibly due to this discrepancy in collaboration, women also reported lower research productivity than men in our study. Attaining work/life balance is a particular concern to early-career scientists, especially since tenure clock and the biological clock can coincide and reduce the opportunity for women to achieve tenure and have children. Family issues may impact the success of women in academic careers, such as travel to meetings and field work. Our research shows that women's partners more often worked in STEM fields, potentially complicating women's careers by requiring couples to consider two STEM careers when making career decisions. Women's partners more often worked full time than did the partners of men. This may limit the possibility of work-related travel for female geoscientists and increase the burden of household duties on two working partners. In fact, women did report doing significantly more household upkeep and more parenting than men. Another barrier to retention and promotion of women includes a lack of mentors and role models. The example of women in senior positions is especially important, justifying young women's aspiration to be successful geoscientists. In our data, young female geoscientists less often saw women as adequately represented in senior roles than did male respondents. While ESWN cannot solve these problems for individuals, ESWN activities do seem to address these concerns. In discussions on the ESWN listserv, women share ideas and strategies for navigating these obstacles. Young female geoscientists may also find role models among the more experienced members. Knowledge of these obstacles also provides ESWN and other organizations aiming to advance women in science with the potential best practices in supporting women through these challenges.