“Shining Armour”: what Margaret-Ann Armour taught us about equity, diversity, and inclusion and mentorship in the natural sciences

Abstract

In addition to her contributions to the field of chemistry, Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour was the foremother of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the natural sciences in Canada and was an exemplary mentor to many women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Dr. Armour emphasized that, to make progress in natural sciences and engineering fields, we also need to make advancements in workplace EDI. Dr. Armour was among the first to recognize the need to fix gender biased systems and not women. Analyses of the 2017–2018 Faculty Workplace Climate Survey, administered to approximately 700 natural sciences and engineering professors from 13 Canadian universities, supports Dr. Armour’s position. We present a synthesis of the key findings from the survey, which speak to some of the gendered challenges that women faculty members in Canada still face; and discuss the implications of these findings in light of women’s continued lack of access to mentors, with an emphasis on gender bias in mentorship within academic chemistry.