Physics – We Have a Problem

Thirty years ago when people asked me why more women did not study physics I did not have a good answer. Now I do. Attempts to increase the percentage of women in Physics go in phases. Early on, the belief was that more female role models would help (they do, but not enough, and intersectionality matters when giving people role models they can see themselves as). Later we went through the “Fix the Women” / ”Lean in” stage and the focus was on teaching women the skills (such as negotiation) it was felt they needed to be successful in Physics. I will explain why this approach was not as effective as hoped and why the emphasis has now shifted to looking at processes and policies to make organizations more inclusive not just more diverse. We are now in the “Lean Out” era. This presentation will emphasize research based practice and include some specific suggestions on how to make recruitment less subject to bias.