To lead or not to be able to lead, that is the question

Authors

Keywords:

scientific leadership, gender bias, vertical segregation

Abstract

Several European reports show that, at most, only around 20 % of women hold positions as leaders in science, in the capacity of either university rectors or research center directors. There is a glass (or cement) ceiling that is difficult to overcome: the fact that in order to gain access to leadership, it is often necessary to belong to the highest categories of university professors or researchers, and women usually make up only 20 % of these categories. Even though there are equal numbers of men and women at PhD level, losses of female talent take place as these people’s careers progress. This is why the image of the leaky pipeline or the gender scissors graph are illuminating with respect to the vertical segregation that exists in science. In particular, we need to reflect on the biases that we may be showing when evaluating scientific careers. It is necessary to rethink the criteria on which such assessments are based in order to advance towards a fairer and more responsible scientific leadership.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2024-01-24

Issue

Section

Articles