Research reveals low exposure of excellent work by female scientists

http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/women-underrepresented-science-evolutionary-biology-1.281055

June 21, 2013

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have found that high quality science by female academics is underrepresented in comparison to that of their male counterparts.

The researchers analysed the genders of invited speakers at the most prestigious gatherings of evolutionary biologists in Europe - six biannual congresses of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) and found that male speakers outnumbered women.

Even in comparison to the numbers of women and men among world class scientists – from the world top ranked institutions for life sciences, and authors in the top-tier journals Nature and Science - women were still underrepresented among invited speakers.

The researchers also found that women were underrepresented at the 2011 congress because men accepted invitations more often than women.

-----