Are Women Contributing Equally to the Oceanography Science in Brazil?

Gender Equity in Oceanography

“…2020, Ranganathan et al 2021, Wilson 2013. Similar gender parity is seen in Brazil (Marins & da Costa 2015) GDS1 , where women have made up 50% or more of oceanography PhDs since 2004. In the United States, this gender parity has been achieved from a level of approximately 30% women PhD students in 1988 (Nowell & Hollister 1988) and 40% in 2000 (O'Connell & Holmes 2005, Orcutt & Cetinić 2014), and the proportion of women earning PhDs in oceanography exceeds that in other geosciences (O'Connell 2014, Ranganathan et al 2021, Wilson 2013.…”

“…Leta & Lewison (2003) GDS1 examined information from this researcher database for the period 1997-2001 and found that women made up 42% of the oceanographic researchers in Brazil at that time. A later analysis by Marins & da Costa (2015) GDS1 showed that the percentage of women at all levels (including students) in oceanographic research groups listed in the Brazilian government database increased from 54% in 2000 to 58% in 2010.…”

“…For Brazil, while neither Leta & Lewison (2003) nor Marins & da Costa (2015) gave data for gender ratios of faculty in oceanography, Marins & da Costa (2015) noted that 47% of research groups at a 2013 national meeting were coordinated by women (with differences among disciplines, biological oceanography groups having 50% women leadership compared with 43% for chemical and physical oceanography). This is a substantial proportion compared with those in many other parts of the world but less than the percentage of women who receive PhDs.…”

“…Women remain very underrepresented in leadership levels of employment, with only 24% of French CNRS marine laboratories led by women in 2019 and only 33% of the directors of the Spanish Institute of Marine Sciences over an 80-year period being women (Giakoumi et al 2021). Marins & da Costa (2015) noted that only 1 of the 7 marine science National Institutes of Science and Technology in Brazil is led by a woman, and only 3 of the 18 senior researchers in the National Institute of Oceanic and Waterways Research are women. However, progress was noted by O'Connell (2014) in the appointment by 2014 of women directors at 3 of the 6 US oceanographic institutions featured in an earlier study (O'Connell & Holmes 2005).…”

“…Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, including the Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development program (Black 2020). Many specific aspects of gender equity within oceanography have been assessed in the last decade, often focusing on just one metric (e.g., number of PhDs; Wilson 2013), just one activity [e.g., the Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention (MPOWIR) program; Clem et al 2014], or just one country (e.g., Brazil; Marins & da Costa 2015). Here, we aim to synthesize these different studies, including worldwide comparisons where possible, and offer a comparison of different metrics.…”