Empowering Women of Color in STEM through Leadership and Advancement

Gpra Strategic Management, Inc., White Plains MD

Investigators

Abstract

In the mid 1970s, the "cost" of becoming a scientist for women of color was detailed in the AAAS Report, The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Science (Malcolm, et al., 1976). The Report also outlined definitive recommendations and programs for addressing the unique issues related, in large part, to the intersection of race and gender. Since this report, however, minority women remain disproportionately underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. To bring national attention to the issues related to minority women in the STEM field, an inaugural meeting of STEM Minority Women will be held. This two-day meeting will feature several keynote presentations, panel discussions, and various workshops. The meeting will serve as a vehicle to also promote role models of women and minority STEM professionals, scholars, and educators. GPRA Strategic Management, Inc.'s (GPRASMi) will organize the conference, which is designed to heighten the awareness of topics of concern for minority women to a national level and promote the professional development of minority women in academic STEM disciplines at the undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels. Three objectives are proposed in order to meet this goal: Promotion of national attention to the issues related to minority women in STEM disciplines; Dissemination of relevant information for and about minority women; and Development of a vehicle for professional development and networking among minority women in STEM fields. The impacts of this project lie in bringing attention to the issues that women of color face in the STEM fields. Since the above mentioned AAAS report, little has been done to focus national attention on the "Double Bind". The activities of this project are designed to not only bring attention and awareness to the issues related to women of color, but to also disseminate relevant information, and provide venues for professional development.