- Title
- Steps to improve gender diversity in coastal geoscience and engineering
- Creator
- Vila-Concejo, Ana; Gallop, Shari L.; Power, Hannah E.; Senechal, Nadia; Splinter, Kristen; Hamylton, Sarah M.; Esteves, Luciana S.; Bryan, Karin R.; Delgado-Fernandez, Irene; Guisado-Pintado, Emilia; Joshi, Siddhi; da Silva, Graziela Miot; de Alegria-Arzaburu, Amaia Ruiz
- Relation
- Palgrave Communications Vol. 4, Issue 1, no. 103
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0154-0
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Robust data are the base of effective gender diversity policy. Evidence shows that gender inequality is still pervasive in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Coastal geoscience and engineering (CGE) encompasses professionals working on coastal processes, integrating expertise across physics, geomorphology, engineering, planning and management. The article presents novel results of gender inequality and experiences of gender bias in CGE, and proposes practical steps to address it. It analyses the gender representation in 9 societies, 25 journals, and 10 conferences in CGE and establishes that women represent 30% of the international CGE community, yet there is underrepresentation in prestige roles such as journal editorial board members (15% women) and conference organisers (18% women). The data show that female underrepresentation is less prominent when the path to prestige roles is clearly outlined and candidates can selfnominate or volunteer instead of the traditional invitation-only pathway. By analysing the views of 314 survey respondents (34% male, 65% female, and 1% "other"), we show that 81% perceive the lack of female role models as a key hurdle for gender equity, and a significantly larger proportion of females (47%) felt held back in their careers due to their gender in comparison with males (9%). The lack of women in prestige roles and senior positions contributes to 81% of survey respondents perceiving the lack of female role models in CGE as a key hurdle for gender equality. While it is clear that having more women as role models is important, this is not enough to effect change. Here seven practical steps towards achieving gender equity in CGE are presented: (1) Advocate for more women in prestige roles; (2) Promote high-achieving females; (3) Create awareness of gender bias; (4) Speak up; (5) Get better support for return to work; (6) Redefine success; and, (7) Encourage more women to enter the discipline at a young age. Some of these steps can be successfully implemented immediately (steps 1-4), while others need institutional engagement and represent major societal overhauls. In any case, these seven practical steps require actions that can start immediately.
- Subject
- gender inequality; STEM; female underrepresentation; role models; Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 5
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1418140
- Identifier
- uon:37303
- Identifier
- ISSN:2055-1045
- Rights
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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Goal 5: Gender Equality
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