Journal article
Diversity begets diversity: A global perspective on gender equality in scientific society leadership
PLoS One, Vol.13(5), e0197280
2018
Abstract
Research shows that gender inequality is still a major issue in academic science, yet academic societies may serve as underappreciated and effective avenues for promoting female leadership. That is, society membership is often self-selective, and board positions are elected (with a high turnover compared to institutions)-these characteristics, among others, may thus create an environment conducive to gender equality. We therefore investigate this potential using an information-theoretic approach to quantify gender equality (male:female ratios) in zoology society boards around the world. We compare alternative models to analyze how society characteristics might predict or correlate with the proportion of female leaders, and find that a cultural model, including society age, size of board and whether or not a society had an outward commitment or statement of equality, was the most informative predictor for the gender ratio of society boards and leadership positions. This model was more informative than alternatives that considered, for instance, geographic location, discipline of study or taxonomic focus. While women were more highly represented in society leadership than in institutional academic leadership, this representation was still far short of equal (~30%): we thus also provide a checklist and recommendations for societies to contribute to global gender equality in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR], Copyright of PLoS ONE is the property of Public Library of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
Details
- Title
- Diversity begets diversity: A global perspective on gender equality in scientific society leadership
- Authors
- Dominique A Potvin (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringEmily Burdfield-Steel (Author) - University of Jyvaskyla, FinlandJacqueline M Potvin (Author) - University of Western Ontario, CanadaStephen M Heap (Author) - University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
- Publication details
- PLoS One, Vol.13(5), e0197280; 14
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Date published
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0197280
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2018 Potvin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451244002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Women's Studies
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