Dobrokhleb V.G. Women in Russian science as a potential for its development. In: Gender panorama of modern Russia [monograph]

Abstract

A significant challenge in the field of the formation of scientific personnel, which is characteristic not only for Russia, is the lack of attention to their gender component. The fundamental documents on the problems of scientific and technological development of our country do not address gender issues. The analysis shows that if during the period 2016-2019 the number of male researchers decreased by 4.5%, the number of female researchers decreased almost twice as fast and reached 8.3%. At the same time, it should be noted that there are significantly more women researchers in Russia than in the world. For example, in 2018. Only three out of ten (28.8%) researchers worldwide were women, according to UNESCO. However, there is also a gender imbalance of scientific personnel in Russia, in which the proportion of women is less than the proportion of men engaged in research, and this gap continues to grow. For example, in 2016, women accounted for 66.8% of the number of men employed in this field, and in 2019 this ratio was already 64.1%. The glass ceiling in science has not been overcome either. According to the most qualified scientific personnel: doctors and candidates of sciences ‒ parity in the ratio of their number is not reached. In 2019 there were almost three times fewer female doctors of sciences than men. Among the candidates of sciences in this period, women are one third less than men. At the same time, efforts to implement the fifth goal of the SDGs related to gender issues are important. In the scientific environment, specific actions can contribute to achieving gender balance, including the reform of academic publications and peer review; ensuring women equal access to informal professional networks; greater recognition of additional requirements outside the workplace that traditionally fall on women when evaluating candidates' achievements; guaranteeing women equal resources at work; ensuring better access to parental leave and targeted assistance to women in order to return to work after a career break; striving for a representative gender ratio of invited speakers at academic conferences; positive actions in hiring. A significant challenge in the field of the formation of scientific personnel, which is characteristic not only for Russia, is the lack of attention to their gender component. The fundamental documents on the problems of scientific and technological development of our country do not address gender issues. The analysis shows that if during the period 2016-2019 the number of male researchers decreased by 4.5%, the number of female researchers decreased almost twice as fast and reached 8.3%. At the same time, it should be noted that there are significantly more women researchers in Russia than in the world. For example, in 2018. Only three out of ten (28.8%) researchers worldwide were women, according to UNESCO. However, there is also a gender imbalance of scientific personnel in Russia, in which the proportion of women is less than the proportion of men engaged in research, and this gap continues to grow. For example, in 2016, women accounted for 66.8% of the number of men employed in this field, and in 2019 this ratio was already 64.1%. The glass ceiling in science has not been overcome either. According to the most qualified scientific personnel: doctors and candidates of sciences ‒ parity in the ratio of their number is not reached. In 2019 there were almost three times fewer female doctors of sciences than men. Among the candidates of sciences in this period, women are one third less than men.At the same time, efforts to implement the fifth goal of the SDGs related to gender issues are important. In the scientific environment, specific actions can contribute to achieving gender balance, including the reform of academic publications and peer review; ensuring women equal access to informal professional networks; greater recognition of additional requirements outside the workplace that traditionally fall on women when evaluating candidates' achievements; guaranteeing women equal resources at work; ensuring better access to parental leave and targeted assistance to women in order to return to work after a career break; striving for a representative gender ratio of invited speakers at academic conferences; positive actions in hiring.

Content (in russ)