Allies for women leaders in STEMM: Thoughts from an ‘unabashed optimist’
Hydrologist George Hornberger (Emeritus University Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University), long recognized as a leading male ally for women in STEMM, offers some optimistic and realistic thoughts on support for women, including senior women leaders.
By George M. Hornberger with Patricia A. Maurice
2 April 2024, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10643222
George M. Hornberger (Emeritus University Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University, USA) is an esteemed hydrologist whose research aimed at understanding complex water-energy-climate interrelationships and delineating how hydrological processes affect the transport of dissolved and suspended constituents. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a fellow of the Geological Society of America, and a (inaugural) fellow of the Association for Women in Science. He also led the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment from 2008-2021. George served as a generous mentor to Patricia at key points in her career, and he kindly agreed to share some of his sage advice here, including links to some excellent resources.
What was there in your life and career that led you to become such a successful ally to women in STEMM?
I suppose it was an epiphany that occurred when I first started as an Assistant Professor. I had been rather clueless about gender disparities among faculty while I was a student, but when I began teaching it was impossible not to notice that more than half of the seats in my undergraduate classes were occupied by women and that there were quite a few women in graduate classes as well. Yet, at that time there were no women faculty in my Department. I couldn’t automatically change things; all I did was to react to this palpable unfairness by doing whatever modest things I could to help establish an equal footing, for example by making sure that I voiced opinions about hiring new faculty and tried to ensure that any women candidates were considered fully.
Could you offer some examples of things you have done or seen other men do that have been particularly helpful for advancing women in STEMM?
One of the things an “equal footing” demands is that people are recognized equally for qualifications and accomplishments. Given the gender disparities in various academic and professional organizations, I decided that one small thing I could do was to respond to all requests that I got for nominations for various things by putting forth the names of highly qualified women. For many years, I nominated only women for honors and prizes. (Of course, I supported nominations for many qualified men, but I knew that others would take the lead in these nominations and no one would be left out because of my focus.) I also provided lists of qualified women when asked to suggest members for committees and boards of the National Academies. Even though I recognized that joining such committees was a service that potentially would weigh more heavily on women than on men, I thought it best to at least provide opportunities to women who wanted to make connections with other top people in the field because this can be beneficial in the long run.
As an hydrologist with a great deal of experience in both science and engineering, do you have any thoughts on the current state of women in STEMM in the USA and abroad?
First, as an unabashed optimist, I am bullish on the current state. I have seen great progress across the years. Many departments in the earth and environmental sciences have achieved gender parity, at least in terms of numbers of faculty. Having said that, I believe that I am also a realist and I do not delude myself that everything is perfect; continued hard work is essential to reach a place of total fairness. For example, studies continue to show salary differences and other sometimes subtle discouraging things (e.g., committee assignments that carry extra service burdens). Nevertheless, I think that trends remain positive and that we have reason to hope that progress will continue.
What advice would you offer to women in STEMM considering taking on a leadership position at an academic institution or a research laboratory?
As a community, we must aspire to have equal opportunity in leadership positions as well as all jobs; in particular, we need to encourage and support women as leaders. My advice to women considering a first leadership position, perhaps a department chair position, is to be strong negotiators to ensure that they receive the same commitments from university administrators as do their male counterparts. They should be cognizant that such equality of support is not always automatic [1].
What are some of the key ways in which men can better serve as allies to women in STEMM?
Trite but true, I think that the world would be a better place if every faculty member treated each and every colleague with equal respect. Perhaps somewhat less trite, I think that we all are best served if we acknowledge that we have implicit biases and do everything we can to counterbalance. For example, studies have shown that letters of recommendation often are constructed in ways that disfavor women. To promote some self-awareness and to counter the effects of implicit bias, I have found it useful to screen my own letters of recommendation using a “gender bias calculator” [2]. This is just one way men can learn to serve as effective allies to women in STEMM.
What can we as an international community do to help women break through glass ceilings in STEMM and then be successful once serving in leadership positions?
I don’t have any particularly new insights to share. I think that all of us, and importantly leaders at universities and other organizations that involve STEMM, need to provide encouragement and mentorship all along the career path. “Women and men in authority can help competent aspiring women by legitimizing them as leaders. Leaders can use their influence to vouch for women's and men's value as leaders equally” [3]. But to achieve our goals, we have to be resolute in making sure on a day-to-day basis that we are aware of subtle manifestations of gender bias and work continuously to overcome it.
Questions for further thought:
· Are there men who have helped your career along the way, and if so, what things did they do that were particularly effective?
· Have you ever used the ‘gender bias calculator’ (see above) and if so, how has it changed your approach to communicating?
· How might George’s advice to be ‘strong negotiators’ effect your negotiations in the future and/or your mentoring of junior colleagues?
Notes and references
[1] Kruse S (2022) “I am the Chair”: Women and Department Leadership in the Academy. Front. Educ. 7: 814581, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.814581/full).
[2] https://www.tomforth.co.uk/genderbias/
[3] Valian, V. (2000) “The Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering” in National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2000. Women in the Chemical Workforce: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10047.