Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1029/2019EA000706
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) A global survey on the perceptions and impacts of gender inequality in the Earth and space sciences
Author Popp, A.L.; Lutz, S.R.; Khatami, S.; van Emmerik, T.H.M.; Knoben, W.J.M.
Source Titel Earth and Space Science
Year 2019
Department HDG
Volume 6
Issue 8
Page From 1460
Page To 1468
Language englisch
Supplements https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1029%2F2019EA000706&file=ess2361-sup-0001-2019EA000706-Figure_SI-S01.pdf
Keywords women in Earth and space science; leaky pipeline; gender inequality
Abstract The leaky pipeline phenomenon refers to the disproportionate decline of female scientists at higher academic career levels and is a major problem in the natural sciences. Identifying the underlying causes is challenging, and thus solving the problem remains difficult. To better understand the reasons for the leaky pipeline, we assess the perceptions and impacts of gender bias and imbalance—two major drivers of the leakage—at different academic career levels with an anonymous survey in geoscience academia (n=1220). The survey results show that both genders view male geoscientists as substantially more gender‐biased than female scientists. Moreover, female geoscientists are more than twice as likely to experience negative gender bias at their workplaces and scientific organizations compared to male geoscientists. There are also pronounced gender differences regarding (i) the relevance of role models, (ii) family‐friendly working conditions and (iii) the approval of gender quotas for academic positions. Given the male dominance in senior career levels, our results emphasize that those feeling less impacted by the negative consequences of gender bias and imbalance are the ones in position to tackle the problem. We thus call for actions to better address gender biases and to ensure a balanced gender representation at decision‐making levels to ultimately retain more women in geoscience academia.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22107
Popp, A.L., Lutz, S.R., Khatami, S., van Emmerik, T.H.M., Knoben, W.J.M. (2019):
A global survey on the perceptions and impacts of gender inequality in the Earth and space sciences
Earth Space Sci. 6 (8), 1460 - 1468 10.1029/2019EA000706