Turning the Tide for Academic Women in STEM: A Postpandemic Vision for Supporting Female Scientists

Abstract

The "leaky pipeline" of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which is especially acute for academic mothers, continues to be problematic as women face continuous cycles of barriers and obstacles to advancing further in their fields. The severity and prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic both highlighted and exacerbated the unique challenges faced by female graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and principal investigators because of lockdowns, quarantines, school closures, lack of external childcare, and heightened family responsibilities, on top of professional responsibilities. This perspective provides recommendations of specific policies and practices that combat stigmas faced by women in STEM and can help them retain their careers. We discuss actions that can be taken to support women within academic institutions, journals, government/federal centers, universitylevel departments, and individual research groups. These recommendations are based on prior initiatives that have been successful in having a positive impact on gender equitya central tenet of our postpandemic vision for the STEM workforce.W omen in scientific fields continue to face an uphill struggle with under-representation, salary discrepancies, and increased career-related hardships. Despite progress over the past decades, these challenges were significantly aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and have accentuated the so-called "leaky pipeline", a model that depicts how women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have missed opportunities due to gender bias and existing structural obstacles. These barriers affect all facets of the scientific enterprise, including publishing, hiring, funding, and advancement into more senior positions. 1,2 The consequence is a stagnant gender gap among researchers and faculty, despite significantly increased numbers of women receiving advanced degrees in STEM. 3−5 Broadly speaking, more than 70% of STEM laboratories have male principal investigators (PIs), and these laboratories are less likely to include female graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. 6 Women are also 10−20% less likely to earn the title of PI compared to male peers. 7,8 On average, startup funds offered to women are ∼$500,000 less than those garnered by their equivalently qualified male counterparts. 9 When manuscripts written by women are reviewed by all-male teams of reviewers, their work is less likely to be accepted for publication. 10

Surveying the experience of postdocs in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Likewise, it is also premature to predict irreversible trends. However, while we are barely out of the COVID-induced disruptions, there are some glimpses of positive changes that are emerging ( Gardner et al, 2021 ; Gould, 2021 ; Shah et al, 2021 ). For example, in order to mitigate isolation and perpetuate a learning environment when labs shut down in early 2020, institutional entities responsible for professional skill-building and career-promoting programming pivoted to remote platforms with some interesting outcomes ( Andrade et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Further studies should also ascertain whether the pandemic had any positive impacts on postdocs, such as the ability to continue to work remotely under certain circumstances or make new professional connections via video conferencing, etc. ( Levine et al, 2021 ; Gardner et al, 2021 ; Gould, 2021 ; Shah et al, 2021 ).…”

Ten simple rules for empowering women in STEM

“…Actions like increasing the funding for grants and publications for women and double-blind reviews can be strategies to increase women’s authorship representation. Another way to promote women’s publications is by organizing workshops and congresses for female-led research [ 39 , 40 ].…”

Advancing Women in Chemistry: A Step Toward Gender Parity

“…8 On the basis of previous recommenda-tions on gender parity, Shah et al reported actions that can be taken by government and federal centers, academic institutions, university-level departments, individual research groups, and journals to support women scientists. 9 To address the challenges of women scientists and the importance of women in science, the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling launched special issues such as Women in Computational Chemistry 10,11 and Advancing Women in Chemistry. 12 The Molecular Pharmaceutics journal launched a virtual issue Celebrating Women in the Pharmaceutical Sciences to celebrate the achievements of some of our most innovative and accomplished female pharmaceutical scientists from academia and industry.…”