Field Sites as Workplaces

Our survey revealed that conducting research in the field exposes scientists to a number of negative experiences as targets and as bystanders. The experiences described by our respondents ranged from inadvertent alienating behavior, to unwanted verbal and physical sexual advances, to, most troublingly, sexual assault including rape. These proportions of respondents experiencing harassment are generally consistent with other studies of workplace harassment in other professional settings [14], [16]. Although men and women at all career stages were exposed to or targeted for harassment and assault, trainee women were disproportionately more likely to report such experiences. Similarly, in a sample of medical trainees, 22% of males and 73% percent of females had experienced workplace sexual harassment during their residency [30]. Moreover the experiences of women most often occurred in the context of power differentials; half of such experiences originated from individuals senior to the target in the professional hierarchy of the research team. In contrast, those men in our sample also targeted for harassment and assault most often experienced inappropriate comments or unwanted contact originating from peers. Conventional wisdom often attributes the majority of sexual misconduct to locals and cultural differences, an important consideration for, for instance, the international business workplace [15]. Incidents perpetrated by locals certainly exist and are traumatic [31], [32], but represented a small minority of cases in our survey. Although women in our sample observed or heard about inappropriate comments more than did men, we are not able to determine if this difference reflects disparity in experiences [14], [16] or differences in perception [33], [34], [35], [36], as both may be operating in the workplace.

The experience of workplace aggression is a serious stressor for victims, negatively affecting not only job satisfaction and performance, but also psychological and physical health [37], [38], [39]. A recent meta-analysis of over 50 studies of workplace aggression found that the specific relationship between the perpetrator and victim was a significant mediator of those negative outcomes [38]. When the perpetrator was a supervisor, targets reported significantly more impaired job satisfaction and commitment, and greater psychological distress, compared to when the perpetrator was a co-worker or an organizational outsider such as a patient or client. Similarly, Chan and colleagues in their meta-analysis incorporating results from nearly 90,000 subjects not only replicated the negative work and health outcomes for targets of workplace sexual harassment, but determined that these negative effects were greater when the target was younger [39]. In our study, respondents were most likely to indicate that experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault occurred when they were trainees. This suggests that the experience of harassment or assault during the early career stage may have the most negative impact on the most professionally vulnerable in our disciplines. Moreover, bystanders to workplace incivility, particularly women, are demoralized even though they are not the direct targets of the perpetrator [36].

Framing sexual harassment and assault as workplace aggression, this suggests that women may experience greater reductions in satisfaction and commitment to work being conducted in the field (with potential ripple effects to their experience in the entirety of professional science) as well as greater psychological harms than those experienced by men. Barling suggests that workplace aggression may limit victims' cognitive and emotional reserves, leaving them less energy to devote to job performance [40]. Poorer job performance itself may lead to even more targeted aggression, creating a powerful cycle of disadvantage. Given that a much greater proportion of women than men in our survey, as in other studies, reported being targets of sexual harassment or assault [41], these negative experiences may represent a major drain on professional effectiveness, thus contributing to the higher attrition rates of women in the sciences [39], [42]. It must be emphasized that men were also targets of harassment and assault in our study. However, these forms of workplace aggression occurred via mostly horizontal rather than vertical channels, suggesting that the impacts on job performance and psychological well-being are not totally comparable in quality and quantity to those experienced by women.

Experiences of harassment and assault not only have substantial impact on the individual professionally and personally [38], [43], they can also influence the entire scientific community. Social scientists posit that demographic diversity enhances innovation, creativity, and team performance and productivity [44], [45], key aspects of scientific research. Women trainees have outnumbered male trainees across many field-based sciences for more than a decade, however women continue to be under- represented within the professorate [29]. This study joins a growing body of literature documenting the systemic challenges that women scientists confront throughout their careers, challenges that in turn have an effect on the production of science. Among science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEM) fields, women are rated as less competent and offered less mentoring [46], are less often included in symposia organized by men [47], and as faculty are engaged for fewer conversations about research than are men [48]. Although not yet investigated in STEM publications, women are cited less often in scholarly social science publications [49], [50]. Our results cannot adequately speak to the experiences of people of color or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) individuals because they are under-represented in our fields and therefore our dataset, but the experiences reported by our respondents are likely reflective of a broader climate for members of various minority groups. Field-based science is potentially impoverished by the extent to which hostile field environments contribute to the under-representation of diverse populations at all professional stages. The lack of diverse backgrounds and perspectives may well constrain the range of research topics being addressed, slowing advances and achievements in science.