Gabriela Basel
Gabriela is begining her second year of her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. She is the FY21 Affinity Group Liaison on the Diversity and Inclusion Team
In the wake of a recent national spotlight on violence against Black members of our society, administrations of many universities have finally begun to grapple with discriminatory structures in academia. I believe we are at a point where most people in higher education have good intentions, recognize that women – particularly Black and indigenous women – are underrepresented and discriminated against in engineering, and want to help fix the issue. However, I’ve seen many people, from my graduate peers to faculty in my department, struggle with what they could personally be doing to help, especially during a time when much of education is still virtual. I have seen well meaning people turn to the few Black women in my department for advice and help with being better allies, but this places even more burden on the very people whose burden we claim to be trying to lift. As a non-BIPOC (Black or Indigenous Person of Color), I share here three methods I’ve found recently to help myself become a better ally, without burdening my Black friends.
1. Educate yourself on the issues and possible solutions
Because Black voices are so rarely amplified in mainstream media, we frequently falsely assume that there is no way for us to access the opinions of Black scholars and experts. This is when many of us turn to the few Black people we know in our life to educate us. It is important to practice what we preach on our diversity and inclusion statements: that women of color are not a monolith, and that we need to expose ourselves to a broad array of Black opinions to increase our understanding of the Black academic experience. One very simple way to begin this process is to follow Black members of your field on Twitter. Social media may seem like an unlikely place to learn, but it is a great way to expose yourself to a broad array of opinions and discover people, movements, and resources which you can later Google to learn more about. #BlackInSTEM, #BlackInEngineering, and #BlackInTheIvory are just a few common hashtags with associated Twitter accounts which can be used to find tweets, people, and even events highlighting Black members of your field. The University of Washington hosted a 2-day event highlighting Black administrators, faculty, and students in STEM, and I think it’s a great introduction to Black experiences and ideas in STEM academia. Video recordings are available here and here. Spend some time searching Google for Black feminist literature or Black female leaders in your field, in African American studies, in pedagogy, etc.
2. Advocate for and amplify your colleagues
As SWE’s recent survey revealed, virtual meetings exacerbate many problems in gender inequity, such as women being talked over, interrupted, or ignored in meetings. These problems are often even worse for women of color, especially Black women. We are often told as women to amplify each other during meetings by voicing our support or interrupting when our peers are being talked over or being interrupted themselves. This should go double for supporting our Black and/or indigenous colleagues. Be cognizant that you are listening intently whenever they speak and help ensure that others are doing the same. We can take similar steps to amplify our Black colleagues off-line. Many are turning to Black people in their departments to address issues of race or diversity, but our colleagues are typically engineers, just like us! We should be inviting Black members of our field to speak about their research, citing them in our own work, nominating them for research awards, etc. The website diversify chemistry has put together a database of hundreds of minority scientists and engineers to consult for this very purpose. The current website includes members of a broad array of departments, including chemical engineering and materials science, and its existence and success underscore the wealth of overlooked and underrepresented minorities in all fields.
3. Address issues facing our Black colleagues outside of the lab
While it is important to address the day-to-day issues affecting our Black and indigenous colleagues as academics, we also need to be working towards eradicating deep, systemic issues if we wish to call ourselves truly dynamic and consistent allies. Learn about your local BLM movement and how calls for defunding the police would affect your immediate community. Many, many universities have had op-eds published in recent months from Black students describing their negative interactions with university or local law enforcement. Regardless of your opinions on these issues, it is our duty as citizens and our training as engineers which should move us to educate ourselves on issues affecting our peers before holding said opinions.
It is not enough to ensure that our individual actions are not overtly racist. It is long past time that we recognize the racism inherent to higher education and that we, as graduate students, can do something about it. It has long been known that diversity is important for effective research, and, if we want to be the most effective engineers we can be, we need to address these problems. SWE recognizes that it has a part to play in dismantling racism – the Society of Women Engineers stands for all women.
1. Educate yourself on the issues and possible solutions
Because Black voices are so rarely amplified in mainstream media, we frequently falsely assume that there is no way for us to access the opinions of Black scholars and experts. This is when many of us turn to the few Black people we know in our life to educate us. It is important to practice what we preach on our diversity and inclusion statements: that women of color are not a monolith, and that we need to expose ourselves to a broad array of Black opinions to increase our understanding of the Black academic experience. One very simple way to begin this process is to follow Black members of your field on Twitter. Social media may seem like an unlikely place to learn, but it is a great way to expose yourself to a broad array of opinions and discover people, movements, and resources which you can later Google to learn more about. #BlackInSTEM, #BlackInEngineering, and #BlackInTheIvory are just a few common hashtags with associated Twitter accounts which can be used to find tweets, people, and even events highlighting Black members of your field. The University of Washington hosted a 2-day event highlighting Black administrators, faculty, and students in STEM, and I think it’s a great introduction to Black experiences and ideas in STEM academia. Video recordings are available here and here. Spend some time searching Google for Black feminist literature or Black female leaders in your field, in African American studies, in pedagogy, etc.
2. Advocate for and amplify your colleagues
As SWE’s recent survey revealed, virtual meetings exacerbate many problems in gender inequity, such as women being talked over, interrupted, or ignored in meetings. These problems are often even worse for women of color, especially Black women. We are often told as women to amplify each other during meetings by voicing our support or interrupting when our peers are being talked over or being interrupted themselves. This should go double for supporting our Black and/or indigenous colleagues. Be cognizant that you are listening intently whenever they speak and help ensure that others are doing the same. We can take similar steps to amplify our Black colleagues off-line. Many are turning to Black people in their departments to address issues of race or diversity, but our colleagues are typically engineers, just like us! We should be inviting Black members of our field to speak about their research, citing them in our own work, nominating them for research awards, etc. The website diversify chemistry has put together a database of hundreds of minority scientists and engineers to consult for this very purpose. The current website includes members of a broad array of departments, including chemical engineering and materials science, and its existence and success underscore the wealth of overlooked and underrepresented minorities in all fields.
3. Address issues facing our Black colleagues outside of the lab
While it is important to address the day-to-day issues affecting our Black and indigenous colleagues as academics, we also need to be working towards eradicating deep, systemic issues if we wish to call ourselves truly dynamic and consistent allies. Learn about your local BLM movement and how calls for defunding the police would affect your immediate community. Many, many universities have had op-eds published in recent months from Black students describing their negative interactions with university or local law enforcement. Regardless of your opinions on these issues, it is our duty as citizens and our training as engineers which should move us to educate ourselves on issues affecting our peers before holding said opinions.
It is not enough to ensure that our individual actions are not overtly racist. It is long past time that we recognize the racism inherent to higher education and that we, as graduate students, can do something about it. It has long been known that diversity is important for effective research, and, if we want to be the most effective engineers we can be, we need to address these problems. SWE recognizes that it has a part to play in dismantling racism – the Society of Women Engineers stands for all women.
