Stereotyping and bias towards female earth science students and faculty members in Africa

Career Development Activities for African Women, Students and Young Professionals in Geoscience and Remote Sensing

“…This gender disparity not only impedes women's advancement in these vital sectors but also deprives nations of the potential contributions and innovative solutions that a diverse workforce can offer. Studies show that socio-cultural, economic, and systemic factors contribute to the low participation of African women in STEM disciplines [1], [2]. With women accounting for only 30% of STEM professionals in Africa [3], initiatives like UNESCO's STEM and Gender Advancement (SAGA) [4] have been launched to address this issue.…”

Quantitative datasets reveal marked gender disparities in Earth Sciences faculty rank in Africa

“…Other studies elsewhere are scanty and mostly focused on understanding the structure of Earth science academia, population or numbers of women Earth Science academic professionals, women's views and choices, academic metrics, productivity/publication puzzle, and women representation in professional organizations (Handley et al, 2020;Henriques and Garcia, 2022;Holmes et al, 2008;Nature Geoscience Editorial, 2016;Piccoli and Guidobaldi, 2021;Pico et al, 2020;Witze, 2016). Studies on gender disparity or imbalance in Africa STEMM disciplines and the Earth sciences are uncommon, and the few works known or published are restricted to fields such as mathematics (Ouedraogo et al, 2021), geography (Awumbila, 2007), and specific topics (Fru et al, 2021;Owili et al, 2018).…”