In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 16, No. 12 ( 2021-12-10), p. e0260163-
Abstract:
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.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.g005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.s003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.s004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.s005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.r001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.r002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.r003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0260163.r004
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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