#MeToo has moved beyond Hollywood and into STEM.
A simple hashtag has taken the world media by storm and created a platform for many women, both famous and the common citizen, to raise the veil on sexual misconduct that they have experienced.
It all started with one woman - Tarana Burke.
In 2007, Burke created Just Be Inc., a non-profit organization aimed to help victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. She gave her movement a name with two very powerful words - Me Too.
It wasn’t until celebrity actress Alyssa Milano tweeted in advocacy of giving women a voice to speak out on sexual misconduct following the uproar around the accusations of Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein that the hashtag went viral.
The impact of #MeToo has moved well beyond Hollywood, allowing women in several different industries and areas of study to voice the gender bias and misconduct that they have experienced from their male counterparts.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that one-third of women in biomedical research have experienced sexual harassment, and while almost two-thirds have experienced some form of gender bias when trying to advance professionally.
In Karin Lachmi’s, a biotech entrepreneur, opinion editorial "Let #MeToo Be a Catalyst towards removing gender bias in STEM" she relays an account of her own experience struggling with gender bias in her field.
Most importantly, she states how companies and institutions can make a difference in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
“From a leadership perspective, companies and academic institutions large and small across STEM need to commit to “50 Percent in All” — equal representation of women on management teams, boards of directors, and all decision-making committees. To reach a point where this is possible, all executives in power today must leverage their positions of authority to find, discover, and cultivate talented women for leadership positions.” she says.
Karin Lachmi, Ph.D., is a co-founder, chief scientific officer, and president of Bioz. She previously served as managing director of the western region of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center U.S.
Other areas of STEM have seen the influence of the #MeToo movement firsthand as well. According to recent coverage in The Nation, a wave of policy changes in light of recent studies are shifting the way STEM industries and organizations are viewing and handling issues of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Last February, the House Subcommittee on Research and Technology held their first hearing on the sexual misconduct in science.
This hearing featured industry including Kathryn Clancey, PhD., who led the research study mentioned earlier that found the shocking results of women in scientific research who experienced harassment or bias.
The National Science Foundation is setting an example by implementing new measures that will eliminate funding and grants to researchers if an institution finds any evidence of sexual misconduct or harassment.
The only way to ensure change in STEM is to continue an industry-wide focus on the inclusion of a diversity of thought - and that means more women need seats at the table. It is in everyone’s best interest to ensure that women are equally represented and treated with the same respect and dignity as they climb their way up in their career fields. That, in partnership with sound policy changes, may help change the dialogue so that fewer women in STEM have to say #MeToo.
