Is there a bias in participation and visibility against women in ecology? A comparison between Iberian and Swiss conferences

Abstract

DeSoto, L., Torices, R., Broennimann, O., Guisan, A., Rodríguez-Echeverría, S. 2016. Is there a bias in participation and visibility against women in ecology? A comparison between Iberian and Swiss conferences. Ecosistemas 25(3):105-111. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2016.25-3.12

Women are still under-represented in science and technology because there is a bias in the different evaluation processes from the admission of oral communications at conferences to the access to more qualified positions. In this study, we compared the participation and visibility of female ecologists in the IV Iberian Ecological Conference (CIE4) with the Annual Swiss Conference on Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, Biogeography and Conservation (Biology16) where a method of blind evaluation was applied.

In both conferences, and after active selection by conference committees, male delegates presented proportionately more regular oral contributions than female ones, although these differences were marginally significant. In the Biology16, this bias was due to lower female applicants for oral contributions, and in the CIE4, to a lower selection rate of female oral contributions. In the CIE4, the higher male presence in oral contributions was consistent with male greater visibility, whereas female visibility was higher in the Biology16. This different visibility was caused by contrasting selection for invited speakers; being male researches preferentially invited at the CIE4, but female ones at the Biology16.

Implementing a blind review system of contributions and active policies to promote the participation of women as invited speakers may reduce the differences in visibility and could contribute in the medium term to eliminate the bias against women in the selection of oral contributions at the Iberian conferences.