Underrepresentation ≠ oppression
“Underrepresentation” seems to be the buzzword of choice in white physics equity and inclusion spaces. Yet what makes it so popular is what makes it so detrimental: “Underrepresentation” is the perfect way to reduce structural racism to an issue of aesthetics rather than lives. The solution to “underrepresentation” (and the white guilt it begets) is white saviorist recruitment initiatives. The solution to oppression, meanwhile, begins with giving up unearned privileges and making reparations for past and present injustices.
Yes, it is undeniably true that oppressed groups in physics also tend to be underrepresented in physics, and vice versa. The problem is that we’re treating representation in physics as a chicken-and-egg problem when the reality is that it’s much more nuanced. Ending oppression requires reforming culture. Sure, diversifying a department can be a helpful step in reforming culture, but cultural change is not the inevitable outcome of recruiting a more diverse student body. Equal representation by itself isn’t justice if it merely means more people have to bear the brunt of the racism and sexism of today’s physics culture!
Below I identify and break down a number of specific problems with the “underrepresentation” narrative. Sure, underrepresentation is a problem. It’s just that 9 times out of 10 underrepresentation is a manifestation of a deeper problem and yet we in physics like to treat it as the cause!
Underrepresentation narratives glorify mediocrity. Whenever someone uses the word “underrepresentation,” we ought to be asking ourselves the question “underrepresentation compared to what?” There is nothing particularly meritorious about a physics department at a 70% male technical college achieving equal representation of men and women compared to the school as a whole. If we want to get serious about equity and justice, we need to be explicit that we want representation parity consistent with society as a whole, a demand that requires actively dismantling oppressive structures in society rather than siloing our efforts to the academy.
Underrepresentation narratives place the focus on the wrong party. If we talk about underrepresentation of women or racial minorities, we are implicitly framing the issue as a “woman problem” or “Black people problem.” Physics culture has been built by and for white people (mostly white men). It is our job to rid our own institutions of oppression, not minoritized groups’ job to select physics as a major at the same rate as white men!
Underrepresentation narratives are plagued with asterisks. Intersectionality theory teaches us that we cannot consider oppression on the axes of (e.g.) race and gender in isolation from one another. More and more studies, thankfully, are at the very least disaggregating statistics for women of color separately. But that isn’t good enough – no amount of statistical disaggregation is going to account for the experiences of the most marginalized. A chart showing supposedly equal representation isn’t saying much if the experiences of Indigenous people, nonbinary folks, etc. are relegated to the “asterisks” of insufficient N to draw conclusions. Isn’t oppression a problem even if the group being oppressed is too small, too erased, or too excluded to be able to make a meaningful claim about “underrepresentation” based in quantitative data?
Oppressed groups are not necessarily underrepresented. Lots of studies like to lump Asian American and white students together by grouping all other racial minorities as “underrepresented minorities.” Sure, the experiences of Asian American physicists are distinctly different from Black physicists – but the experiences of Black physicists are also distinctly different from those of Chicanx or Latinx physicists even though they are both grouped together as URMs. The same model minority myth that positions Asian Americans to be overrepresented in physics also fosters a climate of anti-Asian racism within physics that is incompatible with justice.
Likewise, in my experience, (white) trans women seem to be somewhat overrepresented in physics spaces. Yet virtually all of us seem to have galling stories of discrimination and mistreatment within the discipline. Why? My theory is that physics is a safe haven for “nerdy”/eccentric white men, a category that many white trans women may be mistaken for pre-transition. Once we do transition, the tenacity it takes to live openly as a trans woman leaves us too stubborn to quit!
Anyway, enough with my screed about underrepresentation narratives. Underrepresentation is an obvious problem that should draw our attention, but it is usually the result of far deeper inequities. To truly transform cultures of physics, we need to stop conflating representation with justice — equal opportunity to be mistreated does not imply equal opportunity to thrive!
