A new year brings with it a new winter term at Dartmouth, where I’ll be teaching two courses. Last year featured many important exchanges that are on my mind as I prepare for class — such as this important and informative one sparked by research on gender bias in political science citations. It’s made me think about gender bias in my own articles and on my own syllabi: you would think that as a woman, I’d be less prone to this, but I want to make to be mindful about this issue as I construct syllabi. As Amanda Chapman writes, “Gender bias is also taught implicitly through the resources chosen for classroom use,” and that “using texts that omit contributions of women… further compounds gender bias in schools’ curriculum.”

I’m also remembering my fall term, in which I had a marvelously engaged, very bright group of students in my course on East Asian IR. In each class I saw before me a sea of quiet women, roiled by wildly waving “pick me! pick me!” male hands. In office hours it was clear that many of these women were highly engaged in the course, whip-smart, and had a lot to say. Yet in class they held back.

This is nothing new; it’s something I’ve observed my whole teaching career. I also know from experience: after years of being teased as “the brain,” I kept quiet in my high school and college classes, in a pattern that required years and commitment to break.

Now I’m on the other side of the desk, and I don’t keep quiet anymore — but to help all the other young women like the mute younger me, I want to improve my own skills in leading a more inclusive classroom. So I found this useful guide from UC Davis, aimed at creating gender equity in teaching. But I’m just getting started. Do others have any helpful materials, or tips from their own experiences, to share?