Rookwood
Implicit Bias and Power Dynamics: How We Can Change the Culture (304853)
*Kimberly Sellers, Georgetown University*Nancy Flournoy, University of Missouri
*Claire McKay Bowen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
*Joseph Gastwith, George Washington University
Keywords: sexual harassment, abuse of power, microaggression, root causes, cultural shift
The statistics community was shocked to its core last December when publicized sexual abuse and harassment cases in our profession surfaced. The cold reality is that sexual harassment and abuse of power are nothing new in our society, and the statistics community is no exception. Such incidences are much more prevalent than one would think, and we are still unaware of many cases, some dating back decades ago. In a larger context, women have encountered numerous obstacles and micro-aggressions in the workplace. In addition to imbalance in power that can create difficult dynamics for women to navigate, there are also implicit bias and stereotyping, which have led to complacency in the silent majority. These root causes need to be examined, and concrete actions must be taken. This panel is organized to engage community members in long-overdue dialogue on how, as a community, we can change the culture to promote equality, educate members on implicit bias, and work towards a balanced power dynamic. Simply exposing the cases, old or new, is not enough. We owe it to the future generation of women statisticians and data scientists to cultivate an environment in which they can thrive.