Women astronomers from ethnic minorities suffer bias

A survey of nearly 500 astronomers and planetary scientists has revealed that women of color encounter more harassment, discrimination and negative workplace experiences than other groups.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets on 10 July, is based on questionnaires returned by 474 researchers in astronomy and related fields between 2011 and 2015. The journal is published by the American Geophysical Union.

It found that 40 percent of women of color reported that they had felt unsafe at work because of their gender, while 28 percent said they’d felt the same because of their race. That compares with 27 percent of white women who answered that they had felt unsafe because of their gender.