Building a System Map of Gender Inequity in STEM

Over the past several weeks, CGEST has partnered with the Hawai’i Leadership Forum to build a system map of gender and race inequity in STEM fields. System mapping is a tool used to illustrate and understand the relationships that reinforce or balance complex social issues such as mass incarceration, food insecurity and gender inequity in STEM. Sam Dorios and Noelani Kalipi from the Hawaii Leadership Forum led young women of color through a series of exercises to develop this map in order to create an informed understanding of the barriers and opportunities young women of color currently face in STEM fields. They began with a framing question: “What enables and inhibits equitable opportunities that results in quality, transformative and culturally responsive STEM pathways and experiences for girls of color?” Next, the participants identified the forces that currently enable and inhibit gender equity in STEM, grouped the forces into common themes and identified the cause-and-effect relationships between these themes (called “loops'' to reflect the self-perpetuating nature of these relationships). This series of workshops culminated in a 10-year plan outlining how to achieve more equitable ends for girls and women of color in STEM. CGEST is excited to use this systems map to develop a statement on the systemic problem of inequity and propose a solution statement in collaboration with our community of STEM equity supporters. The purpose of including stakeholders in our mission to gender equity is to guide ongoing efforts toward a better future for girls and women of color in STEM.

CGEST would like to thank Sam Dorios and Noelani Kalipi for leading each systems mapping workshop and the Hawaii Leadership Forum for their continued partnership in the pursuit of STEM equity. CGEST would also like to thank the young women who participated in developing the systems map for their invaluable contribution to our shared understanding of the barriers and opportunities that women of color face in STEM fields.