Climate for women in climate science: Women scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an authoritative and influential source of reports on climate change. The lead authors of IPCC reports include scientists from around the world, but questions have been raised about the dominance of specific disciplines in the report and the disproportionate number of scholars from the Global North. In this paper, we analyze the as-yet-unexamined issue of gender and IPCC authorship, looking at changes in gender balance over time and analyzing women’s views about their experience and barriers to full participation, not only as women but also at the intersection of nationality, race, command of English, and discipline. Over time, we show that the proportion of female IPCC authors has seen a modest increase from less than 5% in 1990 to more than 20% in the most recent assessment reports. Based on responses from over 100 women IPCC authors, we find that many women report a positive experience in the way in which they are treated and in their ability to influence the report, although others report that some women were poorly represented and heard. We suggest that an intersectional lens is important: not all women experience the same obstacles: they face multiple and diverse barriers associated with social identifiers such as race, nationality, command of English, and disciplinary affiliation. The scientific community benefits from including all scientists, including women and those from the Global South. This paper documents barriers to participation and identifies opportunities to diversify climate science.

Flash droughts present a new challenge for subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction

“…People from many different identities are underrepresented in the environmental science workforce; a well-documented example is women. Women in many parts of the world are at greater risk of harm due to climate-related disasters 75 , and yet they remain underrepresented among one influential set of climate scientists-IPCC authors 80 . Improving diversity of the scientific workforce and taking an inclusive approach to engaging with stakeholders, while remaining mindful of those that are not included, is essential to ethical research on weather and climate in general and droughts, including flash drought, in particular.…”

A Global Survey on the Perceptions and Impacts of Gender Inequality in the Earth and Space Sciences

“…Moreover, in many countries, child care is expensive and/or scarce (Newton, ). Balancing the demands of family responsibilities and being a young scientist striving for tenure is perceived as one of the biggest barriers for young women in academia (Gay‐Antaki & Liverman, ; National Research Council, ; Newton, ). Additionally, hiring biases still persist against young female scientists who might interrupt their career to start a family, as this will impact their scientific output (National Research Council, ; Raymond, ; Vila‐Concejo et al, ).…”

Gender and Arctic climate change science in Canada

“…At this level, male investigators outnumber their female colleagues by nearly 4 to 1 (194:51), account for 85% of project lead positions (81 out of 95), and represent 100% of IRIS leads (4 out of 4). The underrepresentation of women may have profound implications for the quality and breadth of ArcticNet research projects, since diversity among investigators themselves has been linked to more innovative science (Gay-Antaki and Liverman, 2018;Nielsen et al, 2017). These conditions may also prove detrimental to the research careers of women, as resources and opportunities needed for promotion and career development are often located within the domain of male dominated networks (Beck et al, 2014).…”