

Women of Color Working in STEM Fields Are Frequently Mistaken for Janitors - cratermoon
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/women-of-color-working-in-stem-fields-are-frequently-mistaken-for-janitors

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scott_karana
The title is _slightly_ click-baity, since the article itself presents this:

> 48% of Black women and 46.9% of Latinas report having been mistaken for
> _administrative_ or custodial staff.

But obviously, the assumption still reflects really poorly! :/

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omonra
It seems to be that it's not about racism but rather probability. This concept
is described here
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_and_specificity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_and_specificity)

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m52go
If I may, I want to comment on the name of this media company. It seems akin
to starting another one called _Real N!gg@s_ in order to promote equal rights
for blacks. Or something. I don't know.

Some might call it a publicity stunt, but I call it bad taste.

And I don't see this statistic as anything more than insignificant. As an
Indian, I've been mistaken as a worker at hardware stores a couple of times.

So what?

This is nothing more than a phony attempt at intensifying race-based bigotry.

That's perhaps even more tasteless than the name of the publication.

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tjic
Heck, I'm a white male, and I've gotten mistaken as en employee at the big box
hardware store dozens of times.

I note that the article doesn't compare the experience of women of color
versus any other demographic.

As Lord Kelvin said: "“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and
express it in numbers, you know something about it, when you cannot express it
in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be
the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarely, in your thoughts advanced to
the stage of science.”

~~~
jpwright
What about this makes you jump to defend the status quo?

It's obviously a far more hurtful experience when it happens somewhere you
actually work, and when you're already a minority in a white male dominated
environment. But I don't really think the point of this is to suggest we get
better at identifying janitors. It's to point out a symptom that suggests a
larger problem.

The report does compare the same figures to white and Asian-American women,
which reported the same experience at 32.4% and 22.3% respectively. I'll leave
it to you to find figures for men (they may not exist, for a reason).

If you're interested, you should read the full report. It's based on a survey
of 500 female scientists. It's not just anecdotal evidence.
[http://www.toolsforchangeinstem.org/double-jeopardy-
report-v...](http://www.toolsforchangeinstem.org/double-jeopardy-report-
viewer/)

