Participation Of Women In Research Research Articles

Gender Diversity in Research and Innovation Projects: The Proportion of Women in the Context of Higher Education

Europe has gradually consolidated its integration of the gender dimension in the field of research and innovation. Institutional structures have shown that the development of gender diversity policies have improved the conditions of equality between women and men. However, the representation of women in the workforce is still an everyday and universal concern. This article analyses the position of women in academic research. For this purpose, the evolution of the participation of women in research and innovation projects in the context of higher education is observed, taking the University of the Basque Country, Spain, as a case study. In order to evaluate the situation of women in research and innovation projects, the authors analyse a database with 75,864 records of projects collected between 2007 and 2018. The analysis confirms that a more balanced participation has been achieved between women and men in research and innovation teams and in project management structures. However, it also shows that gender diversity should continue to be a priority, in addition to its integration in science and technology financing programmes. Knowing this reality can be useful to promote the intensive development of public policies and to contribute towards the effort to improve the statistics of women’s participation in science.

Gender and research publishing analyzed through the lenses of discipline, institution types, impact and international collaboration: a case study from India

Higher participation of women in higher education and research is a very important development goal in many countries across the world, with several countries creating special initiatives and schemes to increase participation of women in higher education and research. This article looks at a case study from India and aims to characterize the participation of women in research, by analysing the parameters of institution-type, discipline, citation impact and international collaboration. Research publication data from 50 most productive Indian institutions, along with data for 5 major institution systems, for a period of 10 years (2008–2017), as indexed in Web of Science, is obtained as sample data and analysed. Results obtained show that participation of women is found to vary in different disciplines, with biology (37%), agriculture science (32%), social science (31%) and medical science (32%) having relatively higher number of female 1st authored papers as compared to engineering (20%), information science (21%) and mathematics (22%). It is also observed that institutions specializing in medical sciences and social science have relatively better participation of women. In terms of location of institution in a big metropolitan city or an urban area, it was found that there do not exist any significant differentiation in levels of participation of women in research between institutions located in bigger cities or smaller towns. Further, analysis of citation and collaboration patterns show that though male authored papers have an edge in citation impact, women researchers get more internationally collaborated papers.

Cultural and Religious Barriers Influencing the Participation of Women in Research: A Study from Jordan.

To assess the general attitude toward women's participation in research studies in Jordan and determine the various cultural and religious issues that could impact the rate of inclusion of Arab and Muslim women in research studies. A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey study was conducted among Jordanian university students using a 17-item opinion questionnaire. A total of 1265 students from different professional disciplines completed the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents (69.1%) believed that females in Jordan do not have the full autonomy to make their decision to participate in research studies. Study findings also showed that females are more likely to avoid the participation in research studies that require staying outside home or involve direct interaction between researcher and study participants. Females would prefer to deal with female research assistants when participating in research studies. More efforts are required to encourage and enhance the rate of participation in research studies among women in Jordan and, probably, other Middle Eastern societies. When designing and conducting research studies in these countries, researchers should seriously consider the cultural and religious beliefs.

The interaction of personal, contextual, and study characteristics and their effect on recruitment and participation of pregnant women in research: a qualitative study in Lebanon

BackgroundDeclining participation rates are impeding health research. Little is known about factors influencing the decision to participate in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Therefore, this paper reports on the various individual factors and their with contextual factors in influencing participation in research among pregnant women and the recommendations to enhance their recruitment in Lebanon.MethodsThis study used a qualitative research design drawing on focus groups and in-depth interviews. The Theoretical Domain Framework guided data collection and analysis. The three participant groups included: Group 1-Pregnant women (n = 25) attending public pre-natal events and antenatal clinics in Beirut; Group 2-Pregnant women (n = 6) already enrolled in the ongoing Mother and Infant Nutritional Assessment birth cohort study; Group 3-Key informants (n = 13) including health care workers involved in recruiting pregnant women. Conversations were audio recorded, transcribed, translated into English, and thematically analyzed.ResultsThree main factors influencing participation were revealed, with each factor encompassing several sub-themes: (1) personal factors (altruism, self-confidence, personal interest in the topic, previous understanding of the nature and purpose of research, education level, and previous research experience), (2) contextual factors (societal factors, family and friends), and (3) study characteristics (burden of the study, ethical considerations, incentives, and research interpersonal skills and physician endorsement to participate). The results suggested a dynamic interaction among the identified factors, forming two intersecting axes, with a four-quadrant configuration. The y- and x-axes represented personal factors and contextual factors, respectively. Individuals positioned on the lower-left quadrant were the least likely to participate; those on the upper-right quadrant were the most likely to participate; while those on the upper-left and lower-right quadrants were indecisive. Study characteristics seemed to affect the decision of pregnant women to participate situated in any of the four quadrants. Specific recommendations to improve participation were also identified.ConclusionsOur findings suggested an interaction of personal factors, contextual factors, and study characteristics affecting subjects’ participation. This interaction integrates factors into a novel dynamic framework that could be used in future studies. The recommendations identified may help improve participation of pregnant women in health research hence enhancing the quality and generalizability of research findings in LMIC.

Factors Affecting Women's Autonomous Decision Making In Research Participation Amongst Yoruba Women Of Western Nigeria.

Research is a global enterprise requiring participation of both genders for generalizable knowledge; advancement of science and evidence based medical treatment. Participation of women in research is necessary to reduce the current bias that most empirical evidence is obtained from studies with men to inform health care and related policy interventions. Various factors are assumed to limit autonomy amongst the Yoruba women of western Nigeria. This paper seeks to explore the experience and understanding of autonomy by the Yoruba women in relation to research participation. Focus is on factors that affect women's autonomous decision making in research participation. An exploratory qualitative approach comprising four focus group discussions, 42 in-depth interviews and 14 key informant interviews was used. The study permits a significant amount of triangulation, as opinions of husbands and religious leaders are also explored. Interviews and discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was employed for data analysis. Findings show that concepts of autonomy varied amongst the Yoruba women. Patriarchy, religion and culture are conceived to have negative impact on the autonomy of women in respect to research participation. Among the important findings are: 1) male dominance is strongly emphasized by religious leaders who should teach equality, 2) while men feel that by making decisions for women, they are protecting them, the women on the other hand see this protection as a way of limiting their autonomy. We recommend further studies to develop culturally appropriate and workable recruitment methods to increase women's participation in research.

Participation of HIV-Infected Pregnant Women in Research in the United States

Previous studies suggested that some groups of HIV-infected women were underrepresented in studies of antiretrovirals (ARVs). We assessed rates of and reasons for nonenrollment in a U.S. prospective cohort study (protocol P1025), and differences in the characteristics of HIV-infected pregnant women who were and were not enrolled. Forty-one percent of women invited to participate were not enrolled. Clinic-related reasons for nonenrollment included staffing or site resources (26.7% of women) and clinician refusal because of the woman's nonadherence to prenatal care and/or poor research candidacy (10.8%). Patient-related reasons for nonenrollment included unavailability of women for enrollment (e.g., difficulty enrolling during labor/delivery, loss of clinic contact) (20.3%), refusal because of mistrust (10.1%), refusal because of time requirements (8.3%), refusal because of distance to the clinic (4.7%), and spontaneous abortion (4.7%). P1025 participants (N = 530) were significantly more likely to be Hispanic (32.1% vs. 19.8%), and less likely to be non-Hispanic black), to present in the first or second trimester for prenatal care (91.5% vs. 77.6%), and to be ARV-naive (32.8% vs. 23.0%) than nonparticipants (N = 2222). This high rate of nonenrollment can bias study results and generate findings that are applicable only to particular groups of women. Efforts should be taken to design protocols that facilitate enrollment of HIV-infected pregnant women.

Participation of immigrant women family caregivers in qualitative research.

The recruitment of articulate, expressive participants is an essential part of methodology in qualitative research. This article presents the authors' experience in the recruitment of immigrant women of Chinese and South Asian origin in an ethnographic study. The study included women caring for an adult or child family member who had a chronic health problem. Knowledge of women family caregivers' health is restricted by the failure to include diverse groups of women in research. In this article, the authors discuss issues related to recruitment and participation of immigrant women in research, including establishing access to diverse groups of women, benefits for immigrant women, and placing the researcher and research process on the same level. Practical research strategies to address these issues and engage the women in research that portrays their perspectives are presented. The authors' discussion concludes with reflection on their experience and that of other researchers.