Resources/Diversity Committee
Gender Diversity in iGEM
iGEM is committed to being fully inclusive to all members of its community. Over the last several years, iGEM has recommended that teams should be gender-balanced, having approximately as many women as men on a team. As the picture of 2016 Stanford-Brown Team shows on the right, many teams have taken this recommendation seriously and have helped to increase our gender diversity throughout the competition.
While this was a great step forward, we at iGEM HQ realized that promoting gender-balanced teams was only one step towards gender diversity and inclusion in iGEM. With the help of our community, we formed the Gender Diversity Committee to help inform and advise us on ways we could improve diversity in our community.
Gender Statistics for iGEM 2017
The iGEM Gender Diversity committee would love for iGEM to be a place where people of all genders are equally represented. The Paris Bettencourt iGEM team of 2013 performed an extensive study of gender diversity within the iGEM competition. This study found that women were under-represented at all levels of iGEM, with lower levels of representation for more senior categories of participants.
Figure 1: Paris-Bettencourt 2013, provided by Aude Bernheim.
In 2017, gender data was collected from new iGEM participants. We are really pleased to see that gender balance has improved!
iGEM students have really increased their gender diversity, and now nearly 50% of iGEM students are female or non-binary. Well done! Students, we will need your help to continue to improve gender diversity among iGEM PIs, instructors, and advisors as you advance in your careers.
Improving gender diversity among iGEM judges has been a major focus over the past few years, and we are approaching 50% female/non-binary judges despite the gender imbalance among PIs, instructors, and advisors. We will continue to work to improve the gender balance in judging in future years.
We encourage the iGEM community to continue to work for increased gender diversity within iGEM, and we will report back on the progress again next year!
Figure 2: The “male” and “female” groups include both cisgender and transgender individuals. In 2017, individuals were only able to select one response; we’ve since realized that this was a flaw in our survey. In the future, we will allow respondents to select multiple responses for increased accuracy.
Take Action!
What can iGEMers do RIGHT NOW to improve gender diversity within iGEM?
During the Giant Jamboree, you can attend the "Women in iGEM: Support, Sustain, and Strengthen" workshop (Saturday, room 208, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM) to brainstorm solutions for diversity.
After the Jamboree is over, you can still do a lot to continue to work on gender balance in iGEM. Ask your team instructors to add female and non-binary instructors/PIs to the team for next year. Encourage female/non-binary team instructors to apply to be iGEM judges. Make sure that female/non-binary students know to sign up for next year's team. Within student teams, make sure that team roles are filled by a diverse group of team members.
With your help, we can continue to see iGEM gender diversity increase in the coming years!
Committee Role
The iGEM Gender Diversity Committee is responsible for promoting and improving the accessibility to iGEM for women, members of the LGBTQ community, and other members that represent our diverse community.
Some of our efforts include:
- Working with iGEM teams to help improve gender-sensitive issues in their projects
- Designating gender-neutral restrooms at the iGEM Giant Jamboree
- Increasing the percentage of female and LGBTQ iGEM judges
- Providing lactation rooms at the iGEM Giant Jamboree
Do you have any ideas about how we can make iGEM even more inclusive? Do you have any concerns about gender diversity at iGEM? Please contact us at: gender AT igem DOT org.
Committee Members
The Gender Diversity Committee works closely with the iGEM Foundation to provide guidance on gender issues. Our members are a diverse group of people who are interested in gender diversity.
Anne S. Meyer, Committee Chair, TU Delft
Christina Agapakis, Gingko Bioworks
Aaron Heuckroth, Zipcar
Alyssa Henning, Arizona State University
Louise Horsfall, University of Edinburgh
David Lloyd, FREDsense Technologies
Darren Nesbeth, University College London
iGEM HQ Liasons
Kim de Mora, iGEM Foundation
Traci Haddock-Angelli, iGEM Foundation
