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This article examines intersectional praxis as an approach to institutional transformation, arguing that intersectionality is both a catalyst for and outcome of gender equity efforts in the social sciences and other academic STEM fields. As such, approaching gender equity intersectionally can be understood as a way that theory and practice are co-constitutive in social science and hence an important aspect of transforming academic institutions. Through a case study of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program for gender equity in STEM, I look at the development of ADVANCE from an effort to support women in scientific fields to becoming a program for institutional transformation grounded in an intersectional understanding of women's inequity in the academic labor force. I ask two related questions in the efforts to address gender inequities in STEM. First, what is the relationship between academic institutions (which are simultaneously sites for the discovery of knowledge and gender inequality) and the National Science foundation, as the premier American academic institutional funding agency? Second, how has this relationship, through those working on ADVANCE, fundamentally shifted the understanding of the social scientific tools and strategies necessary to advance equity for women in academia? In looking at these questions, I argue that, beyond women's representation in social sciences and academia broadly, intersectionality is an important scholarly advance in social science that offers a dialectical tool for change.
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From Theory to Practice and Back: How the Concept of Implicit Bias was Implemented in Academe, and What this Means for Gender Theories of Organizational Change
Implicit bias is one of the most successful cases in recent memory of an academic concept being translated into practice. Its use in the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program—which seeks to promote gender equality in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers through institutional transformation—has raised fundamental questions about organizational change. How do advocates translate theories into practice? What makes some concepts more tractable than others? What happens to theories through this translation process? We explore these questions using the ADVANCE program as a case study. Using an inductive, theory-building approach and combination of computational and qualitative methods, we investigate how the concept of implicit bias was translated into practice through the ADVANCE program and identify five key features that made implicit bias useful as a change framework in the academic STEM setting. We find that the concept of implicit bias works programmatically because it is (1) demonstrable, (2) relatable, (3) versatile, (4) actionable, and (5) impartial. While enabling the concept’s diffusion, these characteristics also limit its scope. We reflect on implications for gender theories of organizational change and for practitioners.
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- PAR ID:
- 10226046
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Gender & Society
- ISSN:
- 0891-2432
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 089124322110003
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Service work in academia, including organizational change efforts, often competes with time for research, potentially affecting academic careers (tenure, promotion, and pay) through slowed publication productivity. However, little is known about how involvement in such efforts affects publication strategies or whether external funding mitigates the potentially negative impacts on research activity. The authors examine changes in publication trajectories among academics participating in the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, an externally funded gender equity initiative. Using bibliometric data and a matched sample, the authors find that scholars involved in ADVANCE awards published significantly more articles within the first four years after receiving funding. This increase cannot be fully attributed to shifts in research focus, such as publications on gender, or changes in collaboration patterns. Instead, ADVANCE resources created a spillover effect, boosting publications in gender equity while also enhancing productivity in scholars’ primary research areas. These findings suggest that external and institutional resource allocation can offset the additional burdens associated with organizational change work, enabling academics to maintain active research careers while contributing to sustainable change initiatives. This highlights the critical role of robust resource provision in supporting faculty members engaged in organizational change.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211000335
