Gender and conservation science: Men continue to out‐publish women at the world's largest environmental conservation non‐profit organization

James, Robyn; Ariunbaatar, Javkhlan; Bresnahan, Meaghan; Carlos-Grotjahn, Chelsea; Fisher, Jonathan R. B.; Gibbs, Bridget; Hausheer, Justine E.; Nakozoete, Cynthia; Nomura, Sarah‐Kate; Possingham, Hugh P.; Lyons, Kristen

doi:10.1111/csp2.12748

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, gender bias continues to be seen. Recent research suggests this bias might be narrowing, as today female researchers are publishing more research compared to 60 years ago (James et al, 2022). Although, the same study also showed that men still continue to publish more literature than women.…”

Section: Women's Challenges In Conservationmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In a study by James et al (2021), there was a positive correlation between women's involvement and environmental outcomes, and the lack of female involvement could therefore affect desired conservation outcomes as women are known to interact differently with the environment. Women's involvement at every level is therefore beneficial to conservation as they bring different perspectives (James et al, 2022).…”

Section: Women's Motivations To Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent research shows that having a gender equilibrium in conservation can positively influence conservation outcomes (Giakoumi et al, 2021), thus highlighting the need to encourage more women into conservation and removing the gender bias. Men and women bring different perspectives to conservation and climate-related issues, and the lack of gender diversity could impact research (James et al, 2022). Despite their under-representation in conservation, women have significant knowledge about the environment which they pass onto to other women through cultural (song, dance, storytelling) and daily labor practices (Goldman et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women’s thirty-year contribution to cheetah conservation: An insight into volunteer-based conservation program supported by female scientists

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Pfeiffer²,

Maketo³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Women make up a small percentage of the scientific community, including conservation. Today, conservation efforts are vital for the survival of many species, however there is a gender bias within the conservation field. Encouraging more women into conservation could be a key to increasing efficiency and success in conservation goals of organizations and governments. Here we investigate the long running Earthwatch, working guest and intern volunteer programs of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) to understand women’s involvement with volunteer based conservation, and questionnaire data to understand women’s contribution to conservation after volunteering and what challenges women face in conservation. Our results showed there was significantly more female volunteers than male volunteers (p-value <0.000) and on average, females contributed to 73.7% of the volunteer population annually. Volunteer’s age at time of volunteering varied between the three volunteer programs. Women’s motivations for volunteering and challenges that women face in conservation was dependent on the volunteers’ age. CCF’s holistic approach to conservation, volunteers’ love for cheetahs and ability to gain practical skills were the leading motivations why women volunteered with CCF. Many (87%) of the female interns said volunteering was a means of helping them gain employment. Women’s credibility, family responsibility and personal safety were the main challenges that women face working in conservation today. Addressing gender disparities in every stage of career progression will lead to overall improved conservation outcomes.

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Section: Women's Challenges In Conservationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Women's Motivations To Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Women’s thirty-year contribution to cheetah conservation: An insight into volunteer-based conservation program supported by female scientists

Marker

Pfeiffer²,

Maketo³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…Such structural disadvantage is evident across science and conservation institutions, including The Nature Conservancy (TNC)-the focus of this paper. An analysis of rates of scientific publishing at TNC found that only 30% of authors were women (James et al, 2022).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender bias and inequity holds women back in their conservation careers

James

Fisher

Carlos-Grotjahn

et al. 2023

Front. Environ. Sci.

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The planet is facing climate and biodiversity loss crises that impact all of humanity and yet globally, women remain underrepresented in leading solutions to these urgent conservation challenges. As one of the world’s largest conservation non-profit organizations, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) provided a large case-study for understanding inequity for women in the conservation sector. In 2018, all 1,789 conservation and science staff at TNC were surveyed to understand how they are able to develop their careers and contribute to conservation research and decision making. Of the 904 responses (490 men and 414 women), results show that men influence conservation and science decisions more than women; women face multiple barriers across their conservation careers due to gender bias; women experience sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as fear retaliation more than men; and men reported the sector as a more equitable and favorable place for women than women themselves experienced. Our data demonstrates that gender equality (equal representation of men and women) does not automatically mean that women no longer face systemic inequity and that intersectional issues such as race, location and caring responsibilities can all make it even more difficult for women to excel. Respondents drew from experiences across their conservation careers, to suggest how the conservation sector could address these issues. Based on our findings, we recommend practical ways the conservation sector can improve gender equity, including via workplace and cultural change measures, as well as changes to recruitment, pay transparency, and career development policies.

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“…Articles published in the peer-reviewed conservation literature are not an unbiased representation of geographies, ecosystems or species, or even of authorship. Studies of threats to species have focused predominantly on mammals and birds in Europe, Oceania and North America (Velasco et al, 2015); amongst top-publishing authors, women and countries in the Global South are notably underrepresented (Maas et al, 2021; James et al, 2022); comparatively less research is undertaken in the most biodiverse countries (Wilson et al, 2016); and although conservation research output in some areas of the Global South is increasing, it remains dominated by non-national scientists (Wilson et al, 2016; Pototsky & Cresswell, 2021). Until recently, one aspect of this imbalance was the limited access in poorer countries and the Global South to the relevant literature, but this has improved following the work of the Research4Life partnership, which provides online access to peer-reviewed content for institutions in lower-income countries, and the move of some journals—including Oryx (Fisher, 2020)—to open access.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%