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Diversity begets diversity: A global perspective on gender equality in scientific society leadership

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  • Dominique A Potvin
  • Emily Burdfield-Steel
  • Jacqueline M Potvin
  • Stephen M Heap

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.

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  • Dominique A Potvin & Emily Burdfield-Steel & Jacqueline M Potvin & Stephen M Heap, 2018. "Diversity begets diversity: A global perspective on gender equality in scientific society leadership," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0197280
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197280
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. M. Sabatier & M. Carrere & V. Mangematin, 2006. "Profiles of Academic Activities and Careers: Does Gender Matter? An Analysis Based on French Life Scientist CVs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 311-324, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Evans Gary L., 2018. "Bold vision: Gender diversity stuck in transition," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 4(4), pages 97-114, November.
    2. Ana M. Castaño & Yolanda Fontanil & Antonio L. García-Izquierdo, 2019. "“Why Can’t I Become a Manager?”—A Systematic Review of Gender Stereotypes and Organizational Discrimination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-29, May.
    3. Payam Aminpour & Heike Schwermer & Steven Gray, 2021. "Do social identity and cognitive diversity correlate in environmental stakeholders? A novel approach to measuring cognitive distance within and between groups," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Bashir Bello & Mansur Muhammad Bello, 2023. "An Empirical Study of the Numerical Proportions of Women Academics in Selected Universities in Nigeria: A Study of Federal University Gusau and Umaru Musa Yar’adua University," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.

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