Name: The Unique Challenges of Being a Black Woman in STEM
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Women face widespread discrimination in science. Chemist Dr. Raychelle Burks discusses the additional challenges for those with intersectional identities.

In academia, women of color suffer different types of abuse from different people.

The Unique Challenges of Being a Black Woman in STEM

Unique Challenges of Being a Black Woman in STEM

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Women face widespread discrimination in science. Chemist Dr. Raychelle Burks discusses the additional challenges for those with intersectional identities.

In academia, women of color suffer different types of abuse from different people.

Body & Brain

The Unique Challenges of Being a Black Woman in STEMPublished: May 19, 2021Raychelle Burks: All the way through college, no, there were no Black women chemistry professors that I had. I heard that they existed though. But I never had any. I went to get a PhD in chemistry so I would have more employment options. There are lots of things I love about the sciences and I love about academia, my job, but then there's also some real bull . In academia, as women of color, we're gonna have different types of abuse from different people. I remember when I was in my office once, sitting at my desk at my computer. I've got papers spread out, someone comes into my office and for some reason assumes I'm the janitor. I mean, I've been in meetings where you've made a suggestion or said, "Well, what about this?" And it was like you'd never spoke at all. But if a white guy says it, you're like, "And now it'll be magically be heard. Everybody watch this." Sometimes, you get these critical emails and criticism is something that, as a scientist, you have to get used to. But I think it's, is it appropriate? There's been some cases where I'm like, "Wow, this is wildly inappropriate." You don't get to just say what you'd really wanna say, like, "How dare you?"I'm gonna be seen as the angry Black woman trope anyway, but you have to like, "Okay, how do I minimize that?" So you spend all this time trying to craft a response or an approach of how to deal with it. It may not seem like a long time, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. I think about all of that time added up, that's time I'm not spending on grants, on writing papers, on networking with my peers, on just doing research with my students, because I'm trying to navigate these oppressive systems that people who are not in the marginalized communities, not only do they not have to do that, they don't even... It doesn't even register. It's not something that they even think about, let alone it being a time suck in their schedule. You have to remember that, because I'm like, "How is this person able to do all this stuff?" And then you're like, "Oh, that's because they're not having to do any of that stuff." You know, and that's the other thing you have to kinda remember.

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The Unique Challenges of Being a Black Woman in STEM

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Support Provided By

Explore More

Why People Struggle to Associate Women with Science Words

Picture a Scientist

Inaugural 'Black in X' Weeks Foster Inclusivity and Empowerment in STEM