Striving for Equity in Canadian Physics

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent initiatives and data highlighting ongoing disparities in gender and racial representation in Canadian physics, emphasizing the need for continued efforts and data collection to promote equity and inclusion.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of recent data and discusses new initiatives aimed at improving equity, diversity, and inclusion in Canadian physics since 2020.

Findings

Men remain over-represented in high-school physics courses.

Significant drop in women and BIPOC physicists from undergraduate to careers.

National programs like NSERC's Chairs initiatives aim to improve EDI in STEM.

Abstract

We discuss a number of new initiatives and events since 2020 which we hope will contribute to advancement of equity issues within the physics community in Canada. A recent analysis of high-school data shows that men are still over-represented in high-school physics courses, and the fraction has not changed in over a decade. Results from a national survey show that despite improvements over the years, the percentage of women and gender diverse physicists drops by around 35% between undergraduate students to those in a physics career. This decline is even more notable among Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) women and gender diverse physicists, whose representation drops by almost 60%. Several programs from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) have been implemented in order to improve equity, diversity, and accessibility in STEM on a national level, most notably the Chairs for Women in Sciences and Engineering (CSWE) and Chairs for Inclusion in Sciences and Engineering (CISE) initiatives. It is crucial to maintain data collection and support existing as well as new EDI projects in future years as we work to build a more inclusive community of physicists in Canada.