Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference
Conferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st M...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8664204/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1819180663554703360 |
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| author | Anna Lupon Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano Mireia Bartrons Alba Anadon-Rosell Meritxell Batalla Susana Bernal Andrea G. Bravo Pol Capdevila Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles Núria Catalán Ana Genua-Olmedo Cayetano Gutiérrez-Cánovas Maria João Feio Federica Lucati Gabriela Onandia Sílvia Poblador Roser Rotchés-Ribalta Anna Sala-Bubaré María Mar Sánchez-Montoya Marta Sebastián Aitziber Zufiaurre Ada Pastor |
| author_facet | Anna Lupon Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano Mireia Bartrons Alba Anadon-Rosell Meritxell Batalla Susana Bernal Andrea G. Bravo Pol Capdevila Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles Núria Catalán Ana Genua-Olmedo Cayetano Gutiérrez-Cánovas Maria João Feio Federica Lucati Gabriela Onandia Sílvia Poblador Roser Rotchés-Ribalta Anna Sala-Bubaré María Mar Sánchez-Montoya Marta Sebastián Aitziber Zufiaurre Ada Pastor |
| author_sort | Anna Lupon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Conferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL). The conference had 722 attendees, 576 contributions, and 27 scientific sessions. The gender of attendees and presenters was balanced (48/52% women/men), yet only 29% of the contributions had a woman as last author. Moreover, men presented most of the keynote talks (67%) and convened most of the sessions. Our results also showed that only 32% of the questions were asked by women, yet the number of questions raised by women increased when the speaker or the convener was a woman. Finally, the post-conference survey revealed that attendees had a good experience and did not perceive the event as a threatening context for women. Yet, differences in the responses between genders suggest that women tended to have a worse experience than their male counterparts. Although our results showed clear gender biases, most of the participants of the conference failed to detect it. Overall, we highlight the challenge of increasing women’s scientific leadership, visibility and interaction in scientific conferences and we suggest several recommendations for creating inclusive meetings, thereby promoting equal opportunities for all participants. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:17:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-52be8657b6ef4cee90fa67586722e845 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:17:55Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-52be8657b6ef4cee90fa67586722e8452022-12-21T18:10:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-011612Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conferenceAnna LuponPablo Rodríguez-LozanoMireia BartronsAlba Anadon-RosellMeritxell BatallaSusana BernalAndrea G. BravoPol CapdevilaMiguel Cañedo-ArgüellesNúria CatalánAna Genua-OlmedoCayetano Gutiérrez-CánovasMaria João FeioFederica LucatiGabriela OnandiaSílvia PobladorRoser Rotchés-RibaltaAnna Sala-BubaréMaría Mar Sánchez-MontoyaMarta SebastiánAitziber ZufiaurreAda PastorConferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL). The conference had 722 attendees, 576 contributions, and 27 scientific sessions. The gender of attendees and presenters was balanced (48/52% women/men), yet only 29% of the contributions had a woman as last author. Moreover, men presented most of the keynote talks (67%) and convened most of the sessions. Our results also showed that only 32% of the questions were asked by women, yet the number of questions raised by women increased when the speaker or the convener was a woman. Finally, the post-conference survey revealed that attendees had a good experience and did not perceive the event as a threatening context for women. Yet, differences in the responses between genders suggest that women tended to have a worse experience than their male counterparts. Although our results showed clear gender biases, most of the participants of the conference failed to detect it. Overall, we highlight the challenge of increasing women’s scientific leadership, visibility and interaction in scientific conferences and we suggest several recommendations for creating inclusive meetings, thereby promoting equal opportunities for all participants.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8664204/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Anna Lupon Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano Mireia Bartrons Alba Anadon-Rosell Meritxell Batalla Susana Bernal Andrea G. Bravo Pol Capdevila Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles Núria Catalán Ana Genua-Olmedo Cayetano Gutiérrez-Cánovas Maria João Feio Federica Lucati Gabriela Onandia Sílvia Poblador Roser Rotchés-Ribalta Anna Sala-Bubaré María Mar Sánchez-Montoya Marta Sebastián Aitziber Zufiaurre Ada Pastor Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference PLoS ONE |
| title | Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference |
| title_full | Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference |
| title_fullStr | Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference |
| title_short | Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference |
| title_sort | towards women inclusive ecology representation behavior and perception of women at an international conference |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8664204/?tool=EBI |
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