Chapter 8: Unearthing Factors That Contribute to Distorted Science Identities in African American Women

This chapter seeks to unearth how gender, racial, social, and academic identity factors affect persistence in STEM disciplines for African American women. Brickhouse, Lowery, and Schultz (2000) have stated that African American girls must determine an identity in a STEM field as early as middle school to ensure a definitive career path. Carlone and Johnson (2007) noted that the early development of a science identity provided a solid foundation for future career success. However, researchers have suggested that the dearth of Black women in STEM is not due to their intellectual capacity but instead due to the pitfalls of the American education system to under-educate, disengage and underutilize them through the course of the STEM academic pipeline (Farinde & Lewis, 2012; Johnson, Brown, Carlone, & Cuevas, 2011; Ko, Kachchaf, Ong, & Hodari, 2013; Margolis, Goode, & Bernier, 2011; Syed & Chemers, 2011). The “leaky” STEM pipeline is a metaphor used to describe the transition from education to career. During this transition, many underrepresented minorities specifically African American women are lost during this transition. The term to “leak out” describes those that fall out or leak from the pipeline between the bachelors and masters level or that may not transition to a STEM career (Garbee, 2017). Those that survive the “leaky” pipeline and matriculate through college have attributed their lack of persistence to social isolation, academic difficulties, and financial stresses that were based on their racial identity (Buzzetto-Moore, Ukoha, & Rustagi, 2010; George Neale, Van Horne, & Malcolm, 2001; Jackson & Charleston, 2012). Those that finish the continuum unto career opportunities find themselves at a crossroads trying to navigate multiple social identities as “double bind” including that of a woman, an African American, and as a scientist. The double-bind is described as the difficulties experienced by women specifically minority women due to sexism and racism in their STEM careers which are often dominated by white and Asian males (Ong, Wright, Espinosa, & Orfield, 2011). Several researchers suggest that women are faced with a difficult task of balancing their career and family responsibilities while simultaneously navigating traditional gender roles and racial stereotypes (Cech, Rubineau, Silbey, & Seron, 2011; Charleston, Adserias, Lang, & Jackson, 2014; Ko et al., 2013).