Towards diversity in science - a glance at gender disparity in the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC)

Gender equity is far from being achieved in most academic institutions worldwide. Women representation in scientific leadership faces multiple obstacles. Implicit bias and stereotype threat are considered important driving forces concerning gender disparities. Negative cultural stereotypes of weak scientific performance, unrelated to true capacity, are implicitly associated with women and other social groups, influencing, without awareness, attitudes and judgments towards them. Meetings of scientific societies are the forum in which members from all stages of scientific careers are brought together. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as a speaker. Here, we investigated gender disparities in the Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC). Across the 15 mandates (1978-2020), women occupied 30% of the directory board posts, and only twice was a woman president. We evaluated six meetings held between 2010 and 2019. During this period, the membership of women outnumbered that of men in all categories. A total of 57.50% of faculty members, representing the potential pool of speakers and chairs, were female. Compared to this expected value, female speakers across the six meetings were scarce in full conferences (χ2(5)=173.54, P<0.001) and low in symposia (χ2(5)=36.92, P<0.001). Additionally, women chaired fewer symposia (χ2(5)=47.83, P<0.001). Furthermore, men-chaired symposia had significantly fewer women speakers than women-chaired symposia (χ2(1)=56.44, P<0.001). The gender disparities observed here are similar to those in other scientific societies worldwide, urging them to lead actions to pursue gender balance and diversity. Diversity leads not only to fairness but also to higher-quality science.

全球绝大多数学术机构仍未实现性别平等，女性在科学领导岗位的代表性面临多重阻碍。内隐偏见（implicit bias）与刻板印象威胁（stereotype threat）被认为是导致性别差异的重要驱动因素。与真实能力无关的、认为女性及其他社会群体科学表现孱弱的负面文化刻板印象，会在无意识中影响人们对这些群体的态度与评判。科学学会的学术会议是汇聚不同职业阶段科研人员的平台，而在科研社群中的知名度一定程度上源于以讲者身份展示研究成果。本研究针对巴西神经科学与行为学会（Brazilian Society of Neuroscience and Behavior，缩写SBNeC）的性别差异展开调查。在1978年至2020年的15届理事会任期内，女性仅占理事会职位的30%，且仅有两任女性会长。我们对2010年至2019年间举办的6次学术会议进行了分析，此期间所有类别的会员人数均为女性多于男性。作为潜在讲者与会议主持者的后备力量，全体教职人员中女性占比达57.50%。相较于这一预期占比，6次会议中全体会议（full conferences）的女性讲者占比严重不足（χ²(5)=173.54, P<0.001），专题研讨会（symposia）的女性讲者占比同样偏低（χ²(5)=36.92, P<0.001）。此外，女性主持的专题研讨会数量更少（χ²(5)=47.83, P<0.001）。进一步分析显示，由男性主持的专题研讨会中，女性讲者的占比显著低于女性主持的专题研讨会（χ²(1)=56.44, P<0.001）。本研究观测到的性别差异与全球其他科学学会的情况一致，这呼吁各学会采取行动以实现性别平衡与多元包容。多元不仅关乎公平正义，更能助力产出更高质量的科研成果。