Female ecologists are falling from the academic ladder: A call for action

Abstract

In order to advance and to have new perspectives, science needs diversity. However, women are still underrepresented in various scientific areas, including ecology and conservation. A big gender gap still exists in academia, especially at the highest positions. Here, I investigated gender bias in Brazilian post-graduate programs in Ecology at different hierarchical levels, as well as in project funding and scholarship application success. I found evidence of a scissors effect, where women were the majority among students (56%), while men were among Professors (64%). Furthermore, prestigious scholarship applications submitted by women had higher rejection rates. Female ecologists were only awarded 29% of funded projects and, per grant, received almost half the amount of funding than their male peers. Brazil, like other countries, needs to pay more attention to gender disparities at the highest academic positions in science, and urgently apply measures to reduce them. Actions that support scientist mothers should be implemented, such as considering maternity leave during career evaluations. Increasing the visibility of women and celebrating publicly their achievements could stimulate young women to pursue a career in science and reduce the gender gap. Diversity improves our understanding of ecological phenomena and optimize the success of conservation practices.