Dr.Rachael Dunlop is a post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences  at Macquarie University.

 

Mao Zedong once famously remarked that “women hold up half of the sky,” and while this may be true in some fields, women remain underrepresented in science. According to statistics published in “An International Day to Encourage More Women and Girls in Science” authored by Rachael Dunlop, 17 percent of senior Australian academics in the sciences are women, even though women account for more than half of doctorate recipients and researchers at lower professional levels. Dunlop, a post-doctoral bio-medical researcher at Macquarie University, shared her views on the status quo and the future of gender equality in academia with the Chinese Social Sciences Today (CSST).

Dunlop said that, statistics show that women still get paid less, and they are less likely to get promoted than their male colleagues. It is partly because women are subjected to “unconscious bias,” which, among other things, means they are less likely to get grants or promotions, just because they have a female name. Consequently, there are fewer women in senior roles, meaning they are underrepresented as leaders and mentors.

“This is a significant waste of resources, expertise and training,” Dunlop said. “Women are leaving research at a time when they could begin to contribute in a meaningful way, whether that be with expertise, ideas or mentoring younger women scientists through the early stages of their careers. This is bad for everyone, not just women. We know that organizations with better gender equality have better productivity and economic growth, so everyone benefits,” she said. 
 

 In Australia, there are lots of initiatives in place to try to reverse gender inequity. The National Health and Medical Research Council—the funder of most Australian biomedical research—recently started a program to directly link funding to gender equity. This means if institutions don’t implement mentoring and skills training to promote and increase women’s participation, they won’t get funding. In addition, 32 institutions are currently participating in the trial. The Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program pledged to retain more women in science.
 

“Importantly, there are senior male academics now speaking out about a need for change, and I am very happy to see this. This will be critical to long-term change in the field,” Dunlop said.

 

Wang Shuo is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.