Women in Latin American science: gender parity in the twenty-first century and prospects for a post-war Colombia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the status of gender parity in science in Colombia throughout the twenty-first century. Data were decomposed by research area, researcher rank level and academic level. Gender disparity was also estimated for changes in average age, access to scholarships for postgraduate studies, and number of doctoral graduates. Using logistic function modeling, temporal projections into the future were performed in order to estimate how long could it take to reach gender parity. Medical and health science is the only field to have reached gender parity, while also showing a steady decrease in women's representation across time. On the other hand, engineering, humanities and natural sciences had the lowest percentages of women's representation. Women researchers showed a decreasing presence as they move upward to more senior levels, exemplifying the "leaky-pipeline phenomenon" common in science. Possible drivers of these results are analyzed, suggesting that a combination of lack of research funding, insufficient legal framework, pre-existing biases, and poor protection of women's rights inhibits women's participation in science. It is estimated that, without any action to change current trends, it could take between 10 (humanities) and 150 (engineering) years to reach gender parity across all research areas. Mulheres na ciência latino-americana: paridade de gênero no século 21 e perspectivas de uma Colômbia do pós-guerra RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o status da paridade de gênero na ciência na Colômbia ao longo do século XXI. Os dados foram decompostos por área de pesquisa, nível de classificação do pesquisador e nível de escolaridade. A disparidade de gênero também foi estimada para mudanças na idade média, acesso a bolsas de estudos de pós-graduação e número de doutorados. Usando a modelagem da função logística, foram realizadas projeções temporais no futuro a fim de estimar quanto tempo levaria para atingir a paridade de gênero. A ciência médica e da saúde é o único campo que atingiram a paridade de gênero, ao

Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of Colombian researchers in biological sciences

“…It must be mention that the researcher’s demography in Colombia is gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic biased. Only 30.21% of natural science researchers are women [ 24 ], researchers come primarily from big cities [ 25 ], and undergrad students come mainly from middle and high socioeconomic classes [ 26 ]. Therefore, it would not have been possible to completely control for bias in who took the survey.…”

Conducting Management Research in Latin America: Why and What’s in It for You?

“…For example, gender inequity is a salient phenomenon in Latin America. There are positives: Bolivia has the second highest percentage of women in science (63%); Latin America and the Caribbean, together with Central Asia, lead gender parity in science with 45% and 48%, respectively (López-Aguirre, 2019); more than 80 million women in the region have joined the workforce since the 1960s (Chioda, 2016); and according to the World Bank (2019a), the percentage of female labor has grown from 34.7% of the total labor force in 1990 to 41.4% in 2018. However, these seemingly positive trends often conceal underlying discriminatory realities.…”

Gender inequalities in the dental science: An analysis of high impact publications

“…Thus, considering that woman dental researchers are around 30% and 40%, the contrasts in the data suggest that inequalities between genders in the dental area seem to be greater compared with other fields from the health area, which has the best indicators of gender equality 22 . Corroborating that, a recent study found gender equality in medical and health science in Latin America, despite women researchers exhibited a declining presence as they move upward to more senior levels 27 . Another trend already observed in the literature is that richer countries with greater scientific production of impact tend to have less female participation 25,27 .…”

“…Corroborating that, a recent study found gender equality in medical and health science in Latin America, despite women researchers exhibited a declining presence as they move upward to more senior levels 27 . Another trend already observed in the literature is that richer countries with greater scientific production of impact tend to have less female participation 25,27 . Thus, even in highly developed countries, pioneers in different areas of knowledge, and in treaties of equity in science, gender disparities still exist 25 …”

“…Corroborating, in our study we observed that only 28% of the first authors and 16% of the last authors in Japan were women. Exceptions are related to Latin America and the Caribbean, 27 and this could be a reflection of policies adopted to include women, such as political rights and social norms 27 . Also, it is important to consider countries' efforts to integrate women in research.…”