Women are under-represented at senior levels in #academia globally, & across all #science 🧪 disciplines, as shown by these "scissor-shaped curves" ✂️
So how can we ever achieve #gender #equality?
We discuss various strategies in this #Cell Commentary
#WomeninSTEM
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00119-3
🧵 1/
So how can we ever achieve #gender #equality?
We discuss various strategies in this #Cell Commentary
#WomeninSTEM
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00119-3
🧵 1/
Comments
Yet, they often face systemic, cultural, and societal barriers that contribute to their under-representation - including in senior roles
2/
So, what drives the #scissors effect, why does it persist, and what are the strategies we can implement to stem the flow of talented women out of academia?
3/
We highlight key #initiatives that are making advances toward achieving gender #equality at our university
Ofc, we do not imply these are the sole solutions to close the ✂️ curve..
4/
- Parental leave support to hire a technician
- On campus childcare
- Grants for transition to independence
- Transparent faculty hiring procedure
- Training to avoid implicit bias
- "Help platform" to counteract harassment
- & much more..
5/
We argue that achieving gender equality in academia is an urgent imperative that cannot be ignored - nor can it be expected to happen naturally over time
6/
#Diverse and #inclusive teams have been documented to be considerably more competitive in numerous respects, including scientific output and #impact - so this benefits us all!
7/
my email is [email protected]
the legend needs to be at the end of the lines so you don't waste valuable short term memory
why do I, an internet rando, have to tell you and cell the basics, the very basics, of graphing
piss off
Good luck for your critical equity and diversity initiatives!
What are the biases that women encounter along the way?
* Decreasing incentives to move from institution to institution at each career stage (because women are more likely to need to stay put for family/support)
* Redefining "early career" by career stage instead of time from degree (because women are more likely to "lean out" during childrearing)
[email protected]
Thank you!
I think many of us who went through sometimes challenging paths in academia are deeply, deeply committed to paying it forward for the next generations
I wish I had the answer.