Florence Bell died unrecognised for her contributions to DNA science – decades on female researchers are still being sidelined

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 03:29:52 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/florence-bell-died-unrecognised-for-her-contributions-to-dna-science-decades-on-female-researchers-are-still-being-sidelined-217607>

"Almost 80 years ago, Florence Bell quietly laid the foundations for one of the
biggest landmarks in 20th century science: the discovery of the structure of
DNA. But when she died on November 23 2000, her occupation on her death
certificate was recorded as “housewife”.

Decades later, female researchers are still being sidelined. Research has shown
that deep systemic problems block women from advancing or push them out of
science. But this isn’t inevitable – there are changes universities could make
to level the playing field.

While promotion criteria differ across universities, credibility in academia is
primarily established through the number of publications a researcher has
authored. This means academics are under pressure to publish as much as they
can even if quality suffers.

Women in academia are more likely to work part time, hold teaching jobs and do
extra admin tasks. This means women researchers often get less time to focus on
their research, to make discoveries and publish about them. Yet it is research
publications, grants and citations that are used in promotions and salary
negotiations.

The gender disparity is apparent through men’s higher publication rates, and
men’s dominant representation in academia research journal editorships."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

Comment via email

Home E-Mail Sponsors Index Search About Us