Navigating STEM: Afro Caribbean Women Overcoming Barriers of Gender and Race

Beverly A King Miller

doi:10.1177/2158244017742689

Abstract

This article explores issues related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), participation and underrepresentation specifically in regard to women of African descent. Drawing from a larger qualitative, grounded case study, the article examines the experiences of Panamanian Afro Caribbean women in STEM and their successful navigation of race and gender barriers related to education and employment in STEM. Ogbu and Banks are used to inform the discussion regarding the formation of group identity. Data were collected and triangulated by interviews, surveys, observations, and documents. The findings revealed that socio-cultural values and strategies from their Caribbean community provided the support needed to build a positive self-identity. In addition, middle-class values that included educational attainment and hard work further supported their persistence through STEM education and their participation in STEM careers. A new model, the Self-Actualization Model (SAM), emerged as graphic representation for presenting the findings.

Highlights

Women have faced systematic barriers with regard to their participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers
The Self-Actualization Model (SAM) model emerged from evidence of the strategies that helped them navigate race and gender barriers to enter their STEM career
The question for this study focused on how Afro Caribbean immigrant women from Panama successfully navigated the barriers through STEM education into their STEM career

Summary

Introduction

Women have faced systematic barriers with regard to their participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. The belief that Blacks are less intelligent creates barriers to access (McGrady & Reynolds, 2013; Smith, 1990; Tettegah, 1996) This serves to perpetuate the underrepresentation of Blacks in STEM education and careers (Hill, Corbett, & Rose, 2010; National Academy of Sciences, 2007; National Science Foundation [NSF], 2013). This study argues that socio-cultural factors and beliefs form the self-identity of the women, and this influenced their tenacity toward their STEM vocation It does not rely on a science identity model for women of color because (even within those models) the authors conclude that further research is needed to understand why students engage in those specific identity behaviors (Carlone & Johnson, 2007). Race constructs attempt to create social structures that provide privilege for those who possess comparatively lighter skin (Burton, Bonilla-Silva, Ray, Buckelew, & Freeman, 2010; Machery & Faucher, 2005)

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