Brilliant minds don’t know a gender identity. However, throughout history we have seen how the male gender abounds in the different scientific institutions and there is notorious discrimination against women.
The trend has been changing in the last two decades. The struggles of the feminist movements for the equal rights of women have made the world open its eyes to this discrimination, which not only occurs in scientific institutions.
Countries like Argentina, advanced in terms of inclusion, register an increase in women scientists who have come to occupy 54% of the labor register.
The figure, according to UNESCO statistics, is quite generous, since when compared to worldwide records, there are only 29.3% of women in scientific institutions. Latin America has 45%, which explains the figures for Argentina a little more.
Despite having a significant number of scientists working in important research organizations, in Argentina it is worrying that invisibility continues to be a common factor in many areas. According to a review on the Clarín newspaper website, only 24.5% of that 54% reach positions where decisions are made.
“Women are concentrated at the base of the pyramid,” reports the Clarion in your post. The note includes the testimony of three women who work in important scientific research organizations in Argentina.
The three tell how they suffered invisibility from their student days, simply because they were women.
“All kinds of situations happen, from discrimination to rape. It is terrible, but the truth is that there are few complaints and a lot of silence. Women are discouraged for fear of losing their jobs. In some areas it has happened that the complainants are punished and it is not uncommon to see that the violent or the abuser, on the contrary, win a promotion or promotion associated with a transfer,” said Fran Bubani, a trans woman, mechanical engineer, magister and a doctor in engineering sciences, who was stopped from the project to develop geothermal heat pumps to heat the Patagonian areas in a sustainable manner.
The refusal of the environmentally friendly impulse occurred because she was not recognized as a woman, a requirement that was requested for that quota. Fortunately, after a complaint and claim process, they approved her initiative.
This is undoubtedly the most visible example of the discrimination that exists in some scientific institutions. The development, important and friendly to the environment, was about to be discarded for a discriminatory fact.
So, if this happens in Argentina, which has 54% women working in its laboratories, what will the situation be like globally?