Gender Inequalities Are Causing America to Fall Behind in Scientific Productiveness

A new report in the journal DNA and Cell Biology indicates that changing the academic ranking system would immediately resolve the U.S.'s shortage of scientists by opening research doors to the existing U.S. pool of highly qualified women scientists.

The United States is falling behind in scientific research and competitiveness in scientific research results as China and India jump ahead in numbers of productive scientists. According to Mary Ann Liebert, owner of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., which publishes the peer-reviewed journal DNA and Cell Biology, the scientific gap could be bridged by women in the U.S who are already qualified scientists but who are passed over because of child-bearing and family responsibilities.

Liebert wrote the report with co-authors Jo Handelsman, Ph.D., who is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Editor-in-Chief of DNA and Cell Biology as well as President of the Rosalind Franklin Society, and Robert Birgeneau, Ph.D., who is Chancellor of the prestigious University of California at Berkeley. They said that an immediate and obvious solution to the failing of American scientific output would be to take advantage of the many women Ph.D.s and advance them to the tenured professorship positions that they have been passed over for in favor of their male colleagues.

In accord with a National Academy report entitled "Beyond Bias and Barriers," Liebert, Handelsman and Birgeneau also contend that the current hierarchical system in academia limits women scientists and poses a barrier to not only their advance but to the advancement of scientific productivity. They suggest that "a few significant changes in the academic system" could balance the gender inequality in academic institutions and allow for more of the highly qualified women scientists who already hold doctoral degrees to take positions of leadership.

In line with that spirit, the Rosalind Franklin Society, founded by Mary Ann Liebert in 2007, offers women in the biomedical fields of science opportunities to advance through advocacy programs, mentoring opportunities and educational grants. Rosalind Franklin is credited with having pioneered the world-changing discovery of DNA's structure.

"Beyond Bias and Barriers" attributes the gender inequalities in academia to both an "unconscious bias" against women in academia and science and the "archaic university structure" of achievement and advancement. The authors of the new report support the National Academy's recommendation that the "insidious role" of the underlying unconscious bias at work in academia be seriously addressed and eliminated from decision making policies and procedures.

Liebert, Handelsman and Birgeneau suggest relatively simple measures would do much to remove the gender inequalities and bring American science back to the forefront in terms of prestige and productiveness: add accessible quality day-care; extend the university tenure time clock; and allow for job-sharing. These measures would up-date what they call the archaic university system and would eliminate some of the reasons behind the unconscious bias against women scientists.

"Too Few Women Scientists Achieving Academic Leadership Positions, According to Editorial in DNA and Cell Biology," Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Publishers.