Bias against parents in science hits women harder

Abstract

Worldwide, parenthood remains a major driver for the reduced participation of women in the job market, where discrimination stems from people's biases against mothers, based on stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding the vision of motherhood in our society. In academia, parenthood may be equally perceived as negatively affecting scientists' commitment and dedication, especially for women. Our survey conducted amongst Brazilian scientists found that mothers self-reported a higher prevalence of negative bias in their workplace when compared to fathers. The perception of a negative bias was influenced by gender and career status, but not by race, scientific field or number of children. Regarding intersections, mothers with less than 15 years of hiring reported having suffered a higher rate of negative bias against them. We discuss implications of these results and suggest how this negative bias should be addressed in order to promote an equitable environment that does not harm women in science.

Development of a Scale of Skills in Teaching Work and Innovation in University Education

“…It is necessary to consider some aspects of the unequal division of domestic activities between genders, which one can consider, for instance, the issue of family responsibility for childcare. This issue may limit women from participating in continuing education courses, which has already been proven, as women published and participated less in research projects during the pandemic than men, and this difference is even greater when one has children (Staniscuaski et al, 2021). This reinforces the need to develop policies and initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality in education and the labor market (Clavero & Galligan, 2021).…”

Another university is possible?

“…What we had less thought through was the pandemic exposing similar structural geographies within the university. As the virus meticulously followed the cracks in our society, and hunted down its most marginalized members, it is these members of the university who were also disproportionately affected (James, 2020;Shalaby et al, 2021;McCoy & Yee, 2021;Staniscuaski et al, 2021). However, the university, being an institution that feeds off of, and into societal divides and hierarchies, embraced the mantra of "we are in this together" while denying tangible support for its members particularly vulnerable to the pandemic (Davis, 2021).…”

Academic career or family?

“…It may all come down to the competitive (and misogynistic) nature of the academic system, expecting researchers to always be on top of their game and putting their careers first. Thus, parenthood may be perceived as negatively affecting the commitment and dedication of researchers, especially women 4 . A path forward may therefore be to not only acknowledge that starting a family requires time off from academic duties and research, but to actually pause the academic clock.…”