Gender equality in science at a conference on global change

On March 23rd and 24th, 2015 a scientific conference on global change was held in Brno. It was organized by CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in cooperation with Mendel University. The primary objective of the conference was to inform each other about activities of various CzechGlobe departments and services. The topic of gender equality in academia was included in the conference programme as CzechGlobe is a partner organisation in the international project EGERA. Conference participants had the opportunity to hear the contribution of Dr. Petr Pavlik from the Department of Gender Studies at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, Prague. In his contribution Petr Pavlik contemplated on the question why diversity is important in a scientific environment. In this context, he emphasized the lack of women in science, their low representation in highest ranks of the academic hierarchy as well as the problem of horizontal segregation. Women are more represented in humanities while men in technical fields and natural sciences. Such a division has financial implications. In fields where men dominate more funds are available. Pavlik blames gender and gender stereotypes for the above mentioned imbalances. In the field of scientific research due to stereotypical thinking we deprive ourselves of a part of talent when we do not use the talent of women. Pavlik also made a short introduction into gender dimension in research. In addition to Pavlik´s lecture conference participants could see a poster on international project EGERA prepared by Dr. Blanka Nyklova. The poster summarised results of the survey on living and working conditions of CzechGlobe employees, namely scientific workers. Results prove that the category of gender plays a significant role in CzechGlobe. Men – scientists spend at work up to eight hours more than the average weekly working hours are. Women – scientists, especially those with small children, on the contrary, spend a lot of time on child care and housework. Men reported higher levels of stress and exhaustion than women, particularly in connection with the fact that they have several jobs and children at home. In contrast to women scientists, men also hold leading positions. Women – scientists and students are less aware of policies and procedures related to academic evaluations than men – scientists. Women also frequently perceive their jobs as insecure (51% women vs. 34% men). CzechGlobe is widely perceived as a non-sexist workplace, but women are less certain about equal treatment and equal opportunities for career growth.

Submitted by egera-admin on 30.04.2015 – 04:31 pm

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