Addressing the under-representation of women in science is a top priority for many institution. However, the majority of efforts to increase representation of women are neither evidence-based nor rigorously assessed. Some — not very recent and not within academia —papers evaluate relative advantages of different measures. One review article concludes that causal effects of many widespread prejudice-reduction interventions, such as workplace diversity training and media campaigns, remain unknown. Another study finds that diversity training and diversity evaluations are least effective at increasing the share of women in management. Efforts to attack social isolation through mentoring and networking show modest effects. Efforts to establish responsibility for diversity lead to the broadest increases in managerial diversity.

Paluck, E. L., & Green, D. P. (2009). Prejudice reduction: What works? A review and assessment of research and practice. Annual review of psychology, 60, 339-367.

Review article on the observational, laboratory, and field experimental literature on interventions for reducing prejudice. The review places special emphasis on assessing the methodological rigor of existing research, calling attention to problems of design and measurement that threaten both internal and external validity. Of the hundreds of studies, a small fraction speaks convincingly to the questions of whether, why, and under what conditions a given type of intervention works. The authors conclude that the causal effects of many widespread prejudice-reduction interventions, such as workplace diversity training and media campaigns, remain unknown. Although some inter-group contact and cooperation interventions appear promising, a much more rigorous and broad-ranging empirical assessment of prejudice reduction strategies is needed to determine what works.

Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American sociological review, 71(4), 589-617.

U.S. federal dataset describing the work-forces of 708 private sector establishments from 1971 to 2002, coupled with survey data on their employment practices. Efforts to moderate managerial bias through diversity training and diversity evaluations are least effective at increasing the share of white women, black women, and black men in management. Efforts to attack social isolation through mentoring and networking show modest effects. Efforts to establish responsibility for diversity lead to the broadest increases in managerial diversity. Moreover, organizations that establish responsibility see better effects from diversity training and evaluations, networking, and mentoring. Employers subject to federal affirmative action edicts, who typically assign responsibility for compliance to a manager, also see stronger effects from some programs.