Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia

Schroeder, J. ; Dugdale, H. L. ; Radersma, R. ; Hinsch, M. ; Buehler, D. M. ; Saul, J. ; Porter, L. ; Liker, A. ; De Cauwer, I. and Johnson, P. J. , et al. (2013) In Journal of evolutionary biology 26(9). p.2063-2069
Abstract
Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly... (More)
Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
career ladder progression, conference presenters, discrimination, evolutionary biology, gender difference, implicit bias, invited, speakers, leaky pipeline, scientific visibility, sex ratios
in
Journal of evolutionary biology
volume
26
issue
9
pages
2063 - 2069
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000323316800022
  • scopus:84882568547
ISSN
1420-9101
DOI
10.1111/jeb.12198
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bbca7498-533c-4b29-bd35-3475741277f1 (old id 4025697)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:14:00
date last changed
2022-03-27 06:08:50
@article{bbca7498-533c-4b29-bd35-3475741277f1,
  abstract     = {{Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.}},
  author       = {{Schroeder, J. and Dugdale, H. L. and Radersma, R. and Hinsch, M. and Buehler, D. M. and Saul, J. and Porter, L. and Liker, A. and De Cauwer, I. and Johnson, P. J. and Santure, A. W. and Griffin, A. S. and Bolund, E. and Ross, L. and Webb, T. J. and Feulner, P. G. D. and Winney, I. and Szulkin, M. and Komdeur, J. and Versteegh, M. A. and Hemelrijk, C. K. and Svensson, Erik and Edwards, H. and Karlsson, Maria and West, S. A. and Barrett, E. L. B. and Richardson, D. S. and van den Brink, V. and Wimpenny, J. H. and Ellwood, S. A. and Rees, M. and Matson, K. D. and Charmantier, A. and dos Remedios, N. and Schneider, N. A. and Teplitsky, C. and Laurance, W. F. and Butlin, R. K. and Horrocks, N. P. C.}},
  issn         = {{1420-9101}},
  keywords     = {{career ladder progression; conference presenters; discrimination; evolutionary biology; gender difference; implicit bias; invited; speakers; leaky pipeline; scientific visibility; sex ratios}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{2063--2069}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Journal of evolutionary biology}},
  title        = {{Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/jeb.12198}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}