Abstract
BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suffers from a dearth of concrete information on the causes of women’s under-representation in scientific research workforce particularly at higher levels compared with the wealth of information that exists in the global north. The goal of this study was to illuminate familial and socio-cultural drivers that contribute to intersectional gender inequities in scientific career progression in SSA to inform strategies that could promote career equity for African scientific researchers.MethodsThis study was nested within the context of ‘Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa’ (DELTAS Africa)—a health-based scientific research capacity strengthening initiative. It adopted an exploratory qualitative cross-sectional study design. In-depth interviews were conducted among 58 (32 Female and 26 Male) trainees/research fellows at various career stages, affiliated to three purposively selected African Research Consortia. The interviews were conducted between May and December 2018 in English. The data were analysed inductively based on emergent themes.ResultsThe study participants were nationals of thirteen SSA countries. More female than male participants had young children. Four themes were identified. They illustrate women’s and men’s characterisation of the normative career pathway and progression requirements which calls for significant ‘time’ commitments (theme 1), and how social power relations of gender within the family and wider society shapes their participation in scientific research activities (theme 2). This culminates in researchers'' differential experiences of navigating between the ‘two different lives’—family and career, and the resultant implications for their career progression and personal well-being (theme 3). Women researchers made different and conscious trade-offs for navigating the ‘two different lives’ by utilising various metaphors such as the ‘biological clock and career clock’, the ‘glass ball and rubber ball’, and the concept of ‘sacrifice’ (theme 4).ConclusionsThis study is the first of its kind to demonstrate how intersectional gender analysis through use of qualitative research methods may provide novel insights into the hidden familial and socio-cultural drivers of gender inequitable scientific research career progression. It offers important policy and practice measures and approaches for fostering career equity for women and men scientists within research capacity strengthening initiatives in SSA.
Highlights
Sub-Saharan Developing Excellence in Leadership (Africa) (SSA) suffers from a dearth of concrete information on the causes of women’s under-representation in scientific research workforce at higher levels compared with the wealth of information that exists in the global north
As indicated in the components of the framework highlighted in yellow, we focus on how participation in scientific research activities, is influenced by the social relations of gender within the family context—micro-level system—which determines progression along the pathway towards academic scientific career ladder for women and men scientific researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), who have multiple social identities
The findings presented in this paper reflects the experiences of women and men scientific researchers at various career stages characterised by multiple social identities in three purposively sampled consortia within the DELTAS Africa research capacity strengthening initiative
Summary
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suffers from a dearth of concrete information on the causes of women’s under-representation in scientific research workforce at higher levels compared with the wealth of information that exists in the global north. Existing literature on gender and science careers in industrialised countries shows that women’s slow progression and attrition at each stage of the scientific career ladder is due to career processes that are influenced by multifaceted social forces at individual, familial, and societal levels [12]. Such impediments to women’s career progression tend to be more pronounced in low and middle income countries [13], there is substantial variation across contexts due to religious, socio-cultural, economic and political differences among others. In majority of Islamic contexts in particular, restrictions on women’s mobility and participation in employment, including the association of women working as a threat to family honour, have been identified as limiting women’s career opportunities and progression [14, 16]
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