Women are being underrepresented in comparison to men when it comes to the reporting of academic research, according to an analysis by scientists at the University of Sheffield.

The analysis revealed that male speakers greatly outnumbered female speakers at the most well known gatherings of evolutionary biologists in Europe – six biannual congresses of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB).

Even female authors in the top-tier journals Nature and Science were underrepresented compared to men.

The researchers revealed that in the 2011 congress, the rate of men accepting the invitations was higher than the rate for women.

Dr Hannah Dugdale, from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, said that it is very important to try and find out why this is occurring and ways to address it.

Women have low exposure at international level in high quality science.

She added:

“We’re currently investigating the reasons behind this lower acceptance rate – it could relate to childcare requirements, lower perception of scientific ability, being uncomfortable with self-promotion – there are many potential contributing factors.”

Dr Julia Schroeder, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Ornitholgoy, Germany, said that it’s possible that female scientists are less flexible about traveling for work because, unlike men, the most demanding phase of a career in Biology for women occurs at the same time when female fertility begins to decline – their last chance to have a family.

Thus, Shcroeder added:

“Women scientists of this career phase may be pregnant, or have children. Stay-at-home-dads are rare, therefore, these women are less flexible about travelling for work, and may be more likely to decline invitations to speak.

We have yet to investigate whether this is indeed the cause, but it is a likely factor that starts the downward spiral: lower exposure and fewer networking opportunities are costly to the career. Fewer women in top positions mean fewer female role models for students who aspire to be scientists.”

Kirsty Grainger, Head of Skills and Careers at the Natural Environment Research Council, said that it is necessary to start taking action to support equality and diversity within research and representation for women, no matter what stage of their career they are at.

She concluded:

“We need to ensure that we attract and retain the brightest and best researchers, regardless of their background, into the UK research base. Understanding and addressing disincentives and indirect obstacles to recruitment, retention and progression in research careers is an essential part of this”.

Despite the fact that the number of female doctors in cardiology has almost doubled in the last decade, two-thirds of women continue to report discrimination, mostly due to the competing demands of parenting and family responsibilities, the findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Written by Joseph Nordqvist