Gender and Racial Bias in Representations of Scientists

Women and non-white individuals are underrepresented in the scientific community. This may be influenced by a lack of diverse representation of scientists in the media. We studied gender and race representation in Google Image search results by classifying the first 100 Google Image search results for scientists by gender and race, and based on the content of the information in the associated webpage. The overall results showed roughly equal representation of males and females, and of white and non-white faces; however, when articles focused specifically on gender were excluded, males made up a larger portion of images. Similarly, when articles focused on race were excluded, white faces made up a larger portion of images. We also found differences in gender and racial representation for webpages focused on other topics, including education, STEM, and health. In a follow-up study, university students and community members were asked to select photos that best represent their idea of a scientist from a set of headshot and lab-setting photos of scientists varying in race and gender. Contrary to our hypothesis, female faces were selected more frequently.

Within headshot photos, Latino faces were also more likely to be selected, but the same trend was not seen in the lab-setting photos. A follow-up study examined whether gender bias exists within language about scientists. Common adjectives associated with scientists were rated by participants to determine whether they are perceived as more masculine. Results showed that there was no significant bias when rating words as more masculine or feminine.