In all honesty, having to still convince people that the barriers many people of different genders, races, ethnicities, abilities, disabilities, sexual orientations etc. face is frustrating and exhausting. It is time to move beyond convincing people that these barriers exist and that the workplace is the problem. We need the next step, we need actionable change in the workplace so everyone can be their best selves.
A little over a year ago I attended the One Year Anniversary IWB meeting that was aimed at continuing to make positive change for women in biomechanics. Everyone was invited to this meeting, not just women. The conversations were a safe space for women and gender diverse individuals to discuss what the barriers are for women and gender diverse people in a biomechanical workspace, and what things they think can be better done to make it over these barriers, and make their workspace better. Including conversations about how workplaces were not built for women (check out the Michelle Penelope Kings TEDx talk). We finished these conversation discussing how addressing these barriers could inherently make the workspace better for everyone.
Women and gender diverse people went into these discussions with a purpose and the outcome has been incredible. This conversation was a launching point for IWB to contribute to conversations on how to reduce barriers in biomechanics. We take a deep dive into the conversations that were had in this meeting later on, but first I want to tell you how these conversations continued to develop for a bigger purpose! When the Black Biomechanists Association discussed putting on a pre-conference workshop at the North American Congress of Biomechanics it was no doubt that we would be willing to participate. So…Us from the IWB, the Black Biomechanists Association (BBA) and the LatinX in Biomechanics group (LiB) came together to figure out how to reduce workplace barriers for a number of different groups who consistently face barriers in their everyday lives. And let me tell you, we think the result was incredible! A Preconference Workshop t NACOB was developed and completed with amazing information to share to the greater biomechanics community on how to make biomechanics a more inclusive space for everyone. Now, for the next 2 months the IWB blogs that are released will be a recap of this pre-conference workshop. So in case your flight got delayed, you just weren’t able to make it to NACOB, or you were there but were just so excited with information you didn’t remember it all, you can find all the topics of conversation, actionable items, and resources right here in these series of blogs! This preconference workshop focused on reducing barriers and providing actionable items to make your workspace more inclusive in 5 distinct situations.
1. Challenges of International Scholars/ Research Collaborations
2. LGBTQIA+ and Gender Non-Conforming Barriers of Inclusion
3. Reducing the Attainment Gap with Biomechanics and Sport and Exercise Science
4. STEM Diversity and Public Policy
5. Student Voices and Leadership
At the preconference workshop each group gave a 10-15 minute presentation and then all participants in the workshop engaged in roundtable discussion on the topics presented. This blog will be a recap of the presentation and culmination of the round table discussions, providing resources based on the attendee discussions with our moderators. The roundtable discussions helped provide us with a better understanding of what level of knowledge most biomechanists had about the topics, and where they may feel they struggle the most. In these blogs we will also provide a multitude of resources for individuals at several different levels of background knowledge for each topic, so stay tuned!
To return some to the barriers women and gender diverse individuals face in the workplace - we are going to recap this with a whole other bonus blog, but I am going to leave you with a place to start in terms of removing your workplace barriers for women: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Mission/Work
About the Author: Dr. Alexa Johnson (she/her) is a Biomechanics Researcher at the University of Michigan and the IWB Executive Council Chair of Community Outreach. She completed her undergrad in Kinesiology at California State University Fullerton, her Masters in Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences, at the University of Kentucky, and did a postdoc at the University of Michigan.