Black and Latina women scientists sometimes mistaken for janitors

[herding cats]

In a series of famous studies designed to gauge at what age stereotypes sink into young minds, elementary school students were asked to draw a scientist. Kindergarteners’ drawings in these Draw-a-Scientist tests were all over the map. But by second grade, one standard image had firmly taken root: A scientist wore a white lab coat and glasses. And he was always a white man.

So it should perhaps come as no surprise that a new report on women of color in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, found that 100 percent of the 60 scientists interviewed reported experiencing bias and discrimination.

So much so that African American and Latina scientists said they were routinely mistaken for janitors. “I always amuse my friends with my janitor stories,” one black woman scientist said. “But it has happened, not only at weird hours.”

More than three-fourths of the African American women scientists surveyed – 500 in an online survey in addition to the 60 in-depth interviews – reported having to provide evidence of their competence over and over again. They tend to feel they can’t afford to make a single mistake. And more than women of any other race or ethnicity, black women were more likely to report a sense of “bleak isolation.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/06/black-and-latina-women-scientists-sometimes-mistaken-for-janitors/

[nomorenomore08]

1. ...

[cwydro]

2. I hate hearing this stuff.

Makes you wonder where they work though.

Surely teams know each other?

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Wearing my garden scrubs I have heard some pretty

offensive things from people I consider friends. But they are Republican. What can you do.

[azmom]

4. I am often asked if they could speak to

The homeowner when I answer the door. WTF