A report on gender diversity and equality in the geosciences: an analysis of the Swiss Geoscience Meetings from 2003 to 2019

• Published in: Swiss Journal of geosciences Vol. 114; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Piccoli, Francesca, Guidobaldi, Giulia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Academic careers; Careers; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth science; Earth Sciences; Equality; Gender; Gender diversity; Geology; Geosciences; Health sciences; International organizations; Scientists; Sex discrimination; Social sciences; Students; Swiss Geoscience Meeting; Trends; Veterinary medicine; Women; Swiss Geoscience Meeting; Gender diversity; Geosciences
• ISSN: 1661-8726; 1661-8734
• DOI: 10.1186/s00015-020-00379-x

[...]during the last few decades increasing attention has been given to the topic “gender and science”, underlining how much careers in science and academia are still subject to gender discrimination. The growing interest and the urgency for change are attested by the large number of commissions and working groups on the topic in national (e.g., Swiss Federal Council, Swiss National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation, USA) and international organizations (European Commission, UNESCO) together with a flourishing number of publications in international journals addressing the problem (e.g., Bernard and Cooperdock 2018; Fassa and Gauthier 2010; Hong and Page 2004; Medin and Lee 2012; Nelson and Cheng 2017; Studer 2012; Wenham et al. 2020). Data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) and the European Commission—She figures 2018 However, as highlighted by the Swiss committee of the Gendering the Academy and Research: combating Career Instability and Asymmetries project (GARCIA project, http://garciaproject.eu/), the scarcity of reliable data on the different positions in academic careers makes it difficult to analyze the problem, assess the reasons and provide solutions. Participants for which we were unable to retrieve the gender information are classified as Male or Female (MorF, blue line). b Total number of participants since 2005 classified as student (BSc, MSc and PhD) or scientist (senior scientists). c Bar diagram showing SGM participants classified according to type of contribution (talk or poster) and role as chairperson or session convener Considering the gender distribution, women are a minority among the participants, though their representation in percentage at the SGM increased from 25% in 2005, to around 30% since 2012, reaching a maximum of 37% in 2019 (Fig. 2a).