Women of the Wild

Women of the Wild: Challenging Gender Disparities in Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSMLs) provides an interdisciplinary approach through the lens of communication to explore the gender disparities impacting women working at FSMLs.

Field stations and marine laboratories (FSMLs) are sentinels of Earth’s climate, providing scientists with the infrastructure to collect data in otherwise inaccessible areas of the globe. Many FSMLs were built around and continue to perpetuate male-dominated institutional ideologies, making it difficult for women, BIPOC, and those with intersecting identities to progress, succeed, and thrive. In a collaborative effort across field ecologists and communication scholars working with women navigating these spaces, this book’s priorities are to: 1) document the gender history of FSMLs; 2) provide a context for the current organizational culture and understand the current communication climate dynamics; 3) explore current barriers to leadership, success, and factors that contribute to positive communication climates in FSMLs, and 4) explore strategies, programs, and interventions for supporting women’s leadership roles, as well as, to develop best practices for policy, resource allocation, and field station design to better support and increase women’s leadership roles in FSMLs.

Introduction to Field Stations and Marine Laboratories by Victoria McDermott, Jennifer Gee, and Amy R. May

Part I: Setting the Stage of FSMLs

Chapter 1: Defining the Role and Value of FSMLs by Victoria McDermott, Jennifer Gee, and Amy R. May

Chapter 2: The Isthmus by Sylvia Torti

Part II: Experiences in the Field

Chapter 3: “Brush your hair, apply for every grant you can, get laid as often as possible”: Women’s Muted Experiences Conducting Scientific Research in the Tropics by Victoria McDermott

Chapter 4: Make the Approach and Get the Data: Challenges, Teamwork, and Cultures of Support for Women Who Are Scientists and Parents at Field Stations and Marine Labs by Diane Debinski

Chapter 5: Experiences of a Female Leader at Field Stations and Marine Labs by Sarah D. Oktay

Chapter 6: From the Standpoint of Women FSML Directors: Communication, Leadership, and the Impact of Gender Norms by Victoria McDermott and Amy R. May

Chapter 7: Identifying Factors that Contribute to Positive and Negative Student Experiences at Field-Based Institutions by Danielle M. Becker, Jessica E. Griffin, and Cassandra M. L. Miller

Chapter 8: The Gift Relationship: How Mentoring Results in Success for Women in Field Station Leadership Roles by Sarah D. Oktay and Brian D. Kloeppel

Chapter 9: Are Field Stations and Nature Centers Gendered Work Spaces? by Lara D. Roketenetz and Gary M. Holliday

Chapter 10: Women’s Perspective on Building International Community-Field Station Partnerships by Rhonda Struminger, Gabriela Maria Vázquez Adame, and Yamila Hussein-Shannan

Chapter 11: A Long (Community) Engagement: From Journalism to Field Stations by Lisa Busch

Part III: Recommendations for FSMLs

Chapter 12: Recommendations for Developing More Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, and Inclusive FSMLs by Amy R. May, Victoria McDermott, and Jennifer Gee