Thread by @NeedhiBhalla

THAT paper is what happens when you don't recognize that gender bias is systemic and structural in academic STEM

LOOK: I have remained SANE in academic STEM b/c of my women mentors, both senior and peer, b/c we are honest about the reality of being women in STEM: the joy of doing science, the connection with trainees AND the persistent devaluation of our work, most evidently in peer review

This world *waves vaguely around*, in which academic STEM is FIRMLY situated, consistently devalues the contributions and work of women, particularly BIWoC.

Academic STEM is not structured to promote our success and the evidence that female mentees are not scientifically valued, per citation metrics (which we know already demonstrate gender disparities), when they have female mentors completely demonstrates that point

The authors try to outline the caveats in their analysis: “it should be noted that there are societal aspects that are not captured by our observational data, and the specific mechanisms behind these findings are yet to be uncovered...

One potential explanation could be that, historically, male scientists had enjoyed more privileges and access to resources than their female counterparts, and thus were able to provide more support to their protégés”

But this is some weak sauce and their final paragraph, with their bogus policy suggestion, goes a long way to undermine these caveats

All I’m going to say is: there are “societal aspects,” they are pernicious and considerable, as they are in any profession where genius or ingenuity, typically coded as white and male, is exalted, and recognizing and naming it ensures that you don’t internalize that oppression

And if you don’t want to contribute to the persistent devaluation of women, particularly BIWoC, in academic STEM, you need to be CONSISTENTLY pushing back against these social forces.

This might include asking yourself: “Am I holding this woman to a higher standard than I would a man in the same position? Am I performing additional scrutiny that I would not for a man?

Am I taking the extra time to identify and recognize women in my field who might be eligible for this citation/seminar/conference/panel/prize/review process?”

I guarantee you if more of us did THIS work, female mentees AND their female mentors would be cited more and better recognized and valued for their scientific contributions.