Issues of equity and diversity in science have been researched. This section contains a selection of literature on gender, diversity and equity in physics, in STEM and in science in general. It is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies and complexities surrounding this topic. The literature is organized by topic (of course, topics may overlap).
Charbonneau, Patrick; Frank, Michelle; Van der Heijden, Margriet & Monaldi, Daniela (2025). Women in the History of Quantum Physics: Beyond Knabenphysik. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/978100953581
Women in Physics: Biographies
Gaillard, Mary K. (2015). A singularly unfeminine profession: One Woman’s Journey in Physics. World Scientific Publishing Company.
Moss, Marissa (2022). The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner. Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Sime, Ruth Lewin (1996): Lise Meitner. A Life in Physics. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Sobel, Dava (2024). The elements of Marie curie: How the glow of radium lit a path for women in science. Fourth Estate.
Strohmaier, Brigitte; Rosner, Robert (2006): Marietta Blau. Stars of Disintegration. Biography of a Pioneer of Particle Physics Ariadne, Riverside, California.
Publications on the Hidden History of Women in Physics / Science
Byers, N., & Williams, G. (Eds.). (2006). Out of the shadows: Contributions of twentieth-century women to physics. Cambridge University Press.
Chiu, Charles S (2008): Women in the Shadows: Mileva Einstein-Marić, Margarete Jeanne Trakl, Lise Meitner, Milena Jesenská, and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. In: Austrian Culture, Peter Lang.
Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden figures: The story of the African-American women who helped win the space race. William Morrow Paperbacks.
Bernstein, Robert H.; Macy, Michael W.; Williams, Wendy M.; Cameron, Christopher J.; Williams-Ceci, Sterling C., Ceci, Stephen J. (2021). Assessing Gender Bias in Particle Physics and Social Science Recommendations for Academic Jobs. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2111.0977
Ivie R, Gledhill I, Ponce Dawson S. (2025). Construction of the global surveys of physicists and scientists (1999-2020), in:Grégory Dufaud, Isabelle Lémonon-Waxin (eds.): Gender and leadership. New York, Routledge.
Kong, Hyunsik; Martin-Gutierrez, Samuel; Karimi, Fariba (2022). Influence of the first-mover advantage on the gender disparities in physics citations. Communications Physics, 5, 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-022-00997-x
Sun, Jun; Karimi, Fariba (2024). Emergence of group size disparity in growing networks with adoption. Communications Physics, 7 (1), Article 309. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-024-01799-z
Sundstrom, Meagan; Holmes, N.G (2025). Bias in physics peer recognition does not explain gaps in perceived peer recognition. Nat. Phys.21, 524–529. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02789-w
Teich EG, Kim JZ, Lynn CW, Simon SC, Klishin AA, Szymula KP, et al. (2022). Citation inequity and gendered citation practices in contemporary physics. Nat Phys (18):1161–70. doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01770-1
Advancing Equity in Physics
Randolph, Jessi; Perry, Jonathan; Donaldson, Jonan P., Rethman, Callie, & Erukhimova, Tatiana (2021). Do female physics students benefit from informal physics programs they facilitate? arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2110.13258
Reiland, Sonja; Palmén, Rachel; Kamlade, Lisa (2022). Disciplinary Communities of Practice for a greater gender equality in physics & life sciences. In A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research (pp. 118–132). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003225546-7
Li, Yangqiuting, & Singh, Chandralekha (2023). The impact of perceived recognition by physics instructors on women’s self-efficacy and interest. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2303.07239
Maries, Alexandru; Singh, Chandralekha (2024):Towards meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion in physics learning environments. Nat. Phys.20, 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02391-6
Discourses of gender and physics
Due, Karin (2014): Who is the competent physics student? A study of students’ positions and social interaction in small-group discussions. Cult Stud of Sci Educ9, 441–459. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9441-z
Gonsalves, Allison J. (2014). “Physics and the girly girl—there is a contradiction somewhere”: doctoral students’ positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics. Cult Stud of Sci Educ9, 503–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9447-6
Gender Stereotypes
Bian, Lin; Leslie, Sarah-Jane & Cimpian, Andrei (2017). Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science, 355, 389‑391. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah6524
Breda, Thomas; Jouini, Elyés; Napp, Clotilde & Thebault, Georgia (2020). Gender stereotypes can explain the gender-equality paradox. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(49), 31063–31069. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008704117
Boivin, Nicole; Täuber, Susanne; Beisiegel, Ulrike; Keller, Ursula; Hering, Janet G. (2023). Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding. Nature Reviews Materials, 9(1), 1‑3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-023-00624-3
Ross, Matthew B., Glennon, Britta M., Murciano-Goroff, Raviv; Berkes, Enrico G.; Weinberg, Bruce A; Lane, Julia I (2022): Women are credited less in science than men. Nature 608, 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04966-w
Peng, Hao; Teplitskiy, Misha; Romero, Daniel M.; Horvát, Emőke-Ágnes: The gender gap in scholarly self-promotion on social media. Nat Commun16, 5552 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60590-y
