Navigating the Culture of Biology: Comparing Latinas’ Experience with Asian and Black Undergraduate Women at an MSI

Women in science, technology, engineering and mathermatics (STEM) point to a competitive, predominantly white, male-dominant STEM culture where women confront a "chilly climate" and microaggressions. This includes biology, where there is gender parity, but underrepresented minority (URM) disparities prevail. We draw on qualitative data-focus groups, in-depth interviews, and journal entries-to compare the experiences of Latina, self-identified Black, and Asian American women in a biology undergraduate program at a prestigious Minority Serving Institution. We find that all women identify a competitive culture in biology, but differed in how they interpreted and navigated the major. Class-diverse Asian American women and white presenting, middle-class Latinas interpreted STEM culture through a meritocratic, colorblind lens, reflecting their seamless academic and social integration. In contrast, first-generation college-going, working-class Latinas and Black women, who were middle class in this study, interpreted the biology classroom culture through a class and racial lens. Working-class Latinas, in particular, experienced academic culture shock and, like Black women, had racialized interactions, reported being rebuffed when interacting and attempting to collaborate with predominantly Asian peers. URM women, including at MSIs, experience a competitive, non-collaborative culture in biology, with working-class Latinas culturally sidelined and, like Black women, racialized negatively in the major.