Brown University STEM gap due to sexism: ‘equity’ scholar

Article here. Excerpt:

'Female students at Brown University are not enrolling in STEM degrees at the exact same rate as male students due to sexism, according to a professor who also works as an “equity consultant.”

The Brown Daily Herald recently surveyed 1,177 undergraduate students on their majors. This represents about 15 percent of all undergrads.

Approximately 45 percent of females are majoring in the “physical sciences” compared to 59 percent of males, according to the survey. The poll also provides data on students who are “neither male nor female” (about 40 percent of Brown students say they are LGBT).

For insights, the student newspaper turned to Katherine Rieser, who does not teach in any of the physical sciences departments. Rather, she directs the graduate program in teaching and is a senior lecturer in education, according to her university bio. However, she is a “race and equity consultant” according to her curriculum vitae.

Rieser, as reported by the campus newspaper, “attributed these differences to ‘structurally racist or gender biased policies’ in education, which she says have catalyzed discrepancies between gender and race.”'