Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges: Women in Operations Research

This paper addresses the role of women in the field of Operations Research (OR). Like many other academic disciplines, OR faces a significant and widely acknowledged gender imbalance among researchers. Our study provided insights on why this is the case and outlines empowering strategies to enhance women’s participation. In the first step, we conduct a review to identify relevant factors and strategies mentioned in the literature. We extend this review to related fields of academia, such as economics and STEM, to draw additional insights. In the second step, we provide results from a qualitative study in which we conducted ten interviews with established female OR researchers. We provide findings by applying a thematic analysis to the responses. Acknowledging the limited number of interviews and potential participant selection biases, we then discuss the findings by comparing them to insights drawn from the literature review. We find that factors such as the scarcity of role models, organizational culture, societal norms, a competitive environment, and family responsibilities emerged as crucial determinants shaping women’s engagement in academic OR. Targeted interventions, including mentorship programs, early exposure, and supportive policies are identified to be an effective way to empower and support female researchers. While identified for OR, we note that our findings might also be of interest to other academic disciplines. Finally, we address our observation that many interviewed participants were unaware of the significant contributions made by female researchers to OR.