The very nature of science suggests it should be an industry beholden to merit rather than arbitrary factors such as our race or gender.  Alas, new research from the University of Canterbury suggests that might not be the case, with a very real gender gap identified in the sector.

The researchers looked at decades worth of research from 28 distinct scientific societies across four countries and five science disciplines, and found that women remained under-represented in science.

“Our research uses almost 20 years of data on over 5,000 individuals, spanning 28 societies in four countries—New Zealand, the United Kingdom, United States and Australia—and five scientific disciplines,” they say.  “We show that as the status of a role increases so does the under-representation of women, even when you take into account the number of women who are eligible. We also show how some common practices in award selection committees will be furthering the problem and give some simple recommendations that can increase diversity.”

Gender divide

The team believe that their work is the first to look at the very grassroots of science across a multitude of disciplines and countries.  The results reveal that, as elsewhere, the gender gap grows as you move up the academic hierarchy, with women less likely to receive the most prestigious awards.

Indeed, the number of award winning female scientists was found to be disproportionately lower than the number of senior women working in the field, although there was also found to be a lower number of female senior leaders than would be expected.

“The practice of award-winners being decided by previous recipients can help perpetuate gender bias,” the researchers say. “We conclude that, when the stakes are low, efforts to tackle gender bias have been partly successful, but when the stakes are higher, the old boys’ club still dominates.”