Educational supports and career goals of five women in a graduate astronomy program

The topic of women in graduate education has been central to many calls for action in increasing diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The field of physics has been particularly resistant to change in the significant overrepresentation of men, while also being similar to the field of astronomy which has a higher overall representation of women than many other physical sciences. Little research has been done in the field of astronomy to better understand how women can be supported in other physical sciences. This paper presents an analysis of five women students in a U.S. astronomy graduate program. The results indicate the women in this study relied on student-student collaboration to succeed through their coursework and exams, while faculty and post-doctorate support were critical for their research perseverance. Furthermore, the career goals of these successful students indicate the importance of considering multiple life goals in determining a student’s pathway, and potentially suggests that the way faculty careers progress needs to be reconsidered if the field wants more diverse faculty and role models.

Figure 1

Percent of women being conferred degrees in the physical sciences at the time of the interviews [14].

Figure 2

Percent of women at various stages of physics and astronomy educational pathways at the time of the interviews [15].