Promoting Equity in the Social Sciences

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in partnership with the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the American Economic Association (AEA), the American Historical Association (AHA), the American Political Science Association (APSA), and the American Sociological Association (ASA), plan to implement an ADVANCE project to address norms and practices that have been shown to inhibit career advancement of women and intersectional scholars. The project will educate society staff and members as well as adapt promising practices from ADVANCE projects into the organizational operations of the SSRC and the collaborating societies.

The goal is to implement structural changes that will positively impact the culture and climate of the social sciences and ensure practices and processes within these organizations are equitable and inclusive, especially those related to publishing and professional recognition.

In collaboration with six disciplinary societies of the social sciences, the SSRC will build awareness and disseminate information on strategies to address bias in the academic decision-making processes tailored to the social science discipline areas. This project will build upon and adapt successful ADVANCE institutional transformation strategies that were developed for changes within institutions of higher education to increase the representation and advancement of women and intersectional scholars in the social sciences.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.

ADVANCE "Partnership" awards provide support to collaborations among STEM professional societies and academic and non-academic non-profit organizations designed to broaden the implementation of evidence-based equity strategies and have a national or regional reach.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.