Gender presence on the editorial boards of journals in the Women's Studies subject category

Abstract

In the scientific journals, being part of the editorial boards, including the journals' members and chief editors, involves holding positions of power and responsibility that affect the running of a journal. Until now, these positions have usually been held by men in most scientific disciplines. In this study, the gender composition in the editorial board members (EBMs) and editor-in-chief (ECs) of the 45 Women's Studies journals classified in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) was analyzed. The following indicators were calculated: the gender distribution of ECs and EBMs by journal, publisher, country, and quartile of the journal in the JCR; the geographical area of the members; and the gender distribution of the authors of papers grouped by journal, and geographical area. The gender distribution of the ECs was 92 % women, while that of the EBMs was 82.2 %. Regarding the articles and reviews published during 2019, a 72.4 % were signed by women. These results display an “inverted truncated pyramid”: the higher the level of decision-making positions is, the higher the percentage of women. On the other hand, the results by geographical area shows an Anglo-Saxon and European bias.