Tuesdays 5:00-8:00 PM

Spring 2021.

Note: This course will be held remotely and synchronously. The GCWS schedule is different than the start/end date of spring courses on each campus. This is because each campus starts their semester at different times and we try to find the time frame that best accommodates nine universities. We work with graduating students to ensure grades are submitted by the deadline; non-graduating students will have a grade filed within 10 days of the end of the course.

Using a variety of disciplinary lenses (history, psychology, policy studies, and sociology), this course explores the factors that impede women from successful participation in academia. We focus on the academic workplace and explore organizational factors that create gender inequities in academic careers as well as factors deeply rooted in culture and gender socialization. Furthermore, we discuss programs that promote the advancement of women in academia. A special focus is on science where the underrepresentation of women is most pronounced, and we examine how the situation is different and how it is similar for women in science and women in other academic fields. This seminar is of particular interest for anyone who aims to pursue an academic career and wants to learn about theories of the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) and in academic leadership positions more broadly. 

Faculty

Gerhard Sonnert is a lecturer on astronomy at Harvard University and a research associate in the Harvard College Observatory. His research interests include women in science, science education, the history of science, science policy, migration, and astrosociology.

Kathrin Zippel, Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University, has explored gender and global transformations of science and education, see her book Women in Global Science: Advancing Careers Through International Collaboration, SUP. She directs an NSF-funded network analysis to study the diffusion of ideas on gender equity interventions among U.S. Universities.