Women in Ocean Food Innovation

3.3 billion people rely on seafood for protein. When women are engaged in ocean food production, output increases by 10-20%. However, only 4% of CEOs in top seafood companies are women (WSI 2021). Please join us for a discussion of innovative programs and efforts to promote women engagement and leadership within the sector.

How many members of the scientific community leave academic science? Do they leave science or academia? How does attrition differ across genders, academic disciplines, and over time? This webinar hosted a discussion on the longitudinal data from 38 countries comparing attrition of men and women scientists, and overviewed the widely nuanced changes found at the discipline level and over time.

Behavior change is a fundamental aspect of personal growth and development. Addressing factors influencing change play a crucial role in various facets of our lives and how we interact with our environment. However, the path to successful behavior change is often fraught with barriers and obstacles that can hinder our progress. The webinar featured a conversation about the role of education, motivation and behavioral change in STEM engagement.

• Interventions to increase young people's interest in STEM. A scoping review
• Addressing the Gender Gap: Women’s Perceived Barriers to Pursuing STEM Careers
• Developing Self-Efficacy and Behavioral Intentions Among Underrepresented Students in STEM: The Role of Active Learning
• Understanding barriers to participation within undergraduate STEM laboratories: towards development of an inclusive curriculum
• Best Practices for Reducing Organizational, Cultural, and Institutional Barriers in STEM Research
• Reference Report: An overview of behaviour change models and their uses

There are many factors affecting women’s ability to engage actively in collaborations, publishing and career advancement. This webinar will focus on inequitable impacts on women’s careers due to caring for children and other dependent care responsibilities and what can be done to affect positive change.

• Researcher parents are paying a high price for conference travel - here's how to fix it
• Policies and practices for supporting family caregivers working in science, engineering, and medicine
• Global gender gap report 2024
• Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines
• Promising practices for addressing the underrepresentation of women in science, engineering, and medicine: opening doors
• The impact of COVID-19 on the careers of women in academic sciences, engineering, and medicine

• Quantifying the dynamics of failure across science, startups and security 
• Ten simple rules for failing successfully in academia 
• Journal of Trial & Error
• Failure in Science and the Science of Failure
• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well 
• State of Girls and Women in STEM

The largest encyclopedia has a problem - a gap - specifically a gender gap. Of the roughly 1.5 million biographical articles on the English version of Wikipedia in 2021, only 19% were about women. Join us for a discussion to learn more about the underlying and systemic issues contributing to the gap. Stay for an opportunity to contribute to the solution and change the face of science on the world’s encyclopedia. Instructions for crafting new and editing current Wikipedia entries will be provided to all attendees with a bit of time to get the entry started. A list of suggested people worthy of Wikipedia entries will be provided, however participants will be encouraged to champion whomever they wish, including themselves! The Wikipedia Edit-a-thon will remain open for two weeks after the conference. All entries will be tracked and shared during a follow-up webinar highlighting participants and successful posts.

This Town Hall provided an opportunity to connect, inform, and discuss strategies to address and help close the authority gap. To access these resources, click here.

The world needs more women-owned businesses! Why? Here’s some stats*:

• Private tech companies led by women achieve 35% higher ROI.
• Women-founded companies outperformed companies founded by men by 63%.
• Women have a 69.5% success rate of crowdfunding for their businesses while men have a 61.4% success rate.
• 57.4% of the SBA Microloan program’s loan went to women-owned or women-led businesses.

However:

• Women receive just 7% of venture funds for their startups.
• Female entrepreneurs ask for roughly $35,000 less in business financing than men.
• Overall, men receive an average loan size of almost $5,000 less.

Several efforts are underway to identify and address factors resulting in gender disparity throughout the workforce pipeline and at the highest scientific leadership positions, This Town Hall hosted conversations about how organizations can advance change in obtaining gender parity. 

While the last several decades have seen increased representation of women in the ocean sciences, representation of women is not equitable at the highest leadership roles. To foster a community-wide conversation, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, the Marine Technological Society, and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership seek to advance recent recommendations and efforts to highlight, support, and empower women leaders to persist in ocean science-oriented careers through an online presence and in-person events. 

Panelists will focus on the role(s) that community organizations, like MTS and COL, play to implement recommendations and support efforts underway for women aiming to achieve leadership positions.  Group discussion will be designed to address topics surrounding women working in ocean sciences from early- to mid-career levels.  The organizers of this event envision that similar sessions will be hosted online and at a variety of future conferences and meetings, becoming an enduring legacy.

Panel Members:

• Mr. Kenneth Bailey, Director of the Civil Rights Office, NOAA (reintroduce)
• Dr. Margaret Leinen, Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Dr. Mandy Joye, Professor, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia
• Dr. Jyotika Virmani, Executive Director, Schmidt Ocean Institute

This Town Hall is the first in a series of events hosted by MTS to kick off an initiative to highlight women in marine technology and science. The goal of this initiative is to create opportunities for connecting, informing and inspiring women in the marine science and technology sectors to further understand the challenges that remain.

 Discussions began with Drs. Rita Colwell and Chuck Wilson of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative last December about how GOMRI and MTS could combine forces to celebrate and support more women in the field.

Understanding the art of storytelling provides a mechanism for communicating in a clear, concise, and compelling way. Elevating the power and influence of your ideas can help you achieve your career goals. Storytelling is also key for conveying complex ideas clearly, improving team collaboration. Moreover, tapping into the power of story builds a human-to-human connection that is fundamental for success through building personal and professional brands, establishing you an expert, a role model, and attracting opportunities. Join us for this networking opportunity and workshop to learn basic principles of storytelling. 

Women and non-binary persons are under-represented in ocean science, and their accomplishments are even less represented in both print and online media. A continued effort to ensure diversity and gender inclusiveness in ocean science is essential to unlock more and equitable opportunities.

This Wikipedia Edit-a-thon aims to empower volunteers who want to contribute to promoting the stories of accomplishments of women and non-binary individuals in ocean science by increasing their online presence.

As a participant, you will receive training in Wikipedia editing and then asked to edit, add, or translate Wikipedia entries for women and non-binary individuals in ocean science. The event will also feature special guest speakers who will share inspiring stories about their careers in ocean science.

Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon List   |   Presentation Slides   |   Workshop Video

MTS in collaboration with Ingenium, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO were pleased to present an Edit-a-thon to create or improve Wikipedia entries to bolster the profiles of women and their contributions to ocean science, engineering, and technology.

Although women and non-binary persons are under-represented in ocean sciences, their accomplishments are even less represented, in both print media and online. This event was held to help bridge the digital gender gap in ocean sciences. Participants were invited to edit, add, or translate Wikipedia entries for women and non-binary individuals in ocean sciences. 

This event was held July 8, 2021 and featured a keynote speaker to inspire the volunteer editors  followed by a basic training for editing Wikipedia. Organizers provided the volunteer editors with an opportunity for Q&A and also brainstorming/assignment of a list of people or organizations for whom the group could create or edit pages. The event was recorded and available for asynchronous participation to accommodate as many schedules and time zones as possible. Participants were given seven days to perform the edits as part of this event.

This discussion was centered around the improvement of gender equality and empowerment in marine technology and science. The event is a collaboration between the Empowering Women for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Programme and the Women Leadership in Marine Technology and Science initiative.

Listen to a recording of an interactive panel discussion lead by women in ocean science that was held on October 21, 2020 to discuss the Picture a Scientist film. Panelists include: Nicole LeBoeuf, Acting Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service, NOAA; Karen St. Germain, Division Director, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA; Penny Chisholm, Institute Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Biology, MIT; Brandy Armstrong, staff physical oceanographer, University of Southern Mississippi; Mandy Joye, Professor, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia

Picture a Scientist chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries – including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists – who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

Picture a Scientist was an official selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film’s virtual theatrical run reached 47 theaters across the USA in June 2020, and raised money for two organizations advancing women of color in STEM. The film is currently available for virtual community screenings, and plans are in progress for broadcast and streaming distribution in the coming months.