Campus Inclusion and Sense of Community Among URM Women in STEM Amid Gendered Racism and Violence

Abstract

Efforts to advance and improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the U. S. continue to expand alongside steadily increasing demands for STEM skills in the workforce. Women from underrepresented racially minoritized (i.e., Black, Latinx, and Indigenous; URM) groups show declining interest and motivation toward STEM learning (English, 2016). The disadvantages of being both a woman and a member of a URM group may contribute to URM women’s declining motivation and retention in STEM. An inclusive climate helps them to have a strong sense of community (Johnson, 2012), but they still experience feelings of isolation, invisibility, discrimination, and disconnectedness from external social and cultural networks (Ong, 2005). They also experience social harms such as gendered racism, sexual harassment, and physical violence in STEM environments. Using data from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC, the current study examined the relations between perceptions of campus inclusion and undergraduate URM women’s motivation and achievement outcomes in STEM. It also explored the moderating roles of social harms—i.e., gendered racism, sexual harassment, and physical and verbal violence—and psychological sense of community on URM women’s science identity and GPA. Regression analyses indicated that perceptions of campus inclusion did not significantly predict students’ motivation and achievement outcomes, nor did gendered racism and sexual harassment or violence against person and property moderate these relations. However, psychological sense of community significantly predicted science identity. Findings from the current study highlight the need for more research on the impact of social harms on STEM outcomes among URM college women.