GENDER EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN WILDLIFE SCIENCES

Rebeca E Becdach; Cal Poly Humboldt; reb103@humboldt.edu; Kellie Crouch, Elizabeth Meisman, Katherine Larson, Anna Goldman, Carol Chambers, Mary DeJong, Val Titus, Catrin Edgeley, Micaela Szykman Gunther, Ho Yi Wan

Gender inequity in science remains a challenge in the 21st century. Here, we analyze the gender disparity in wildlife science publications. We reviewed all research articles published in the Journal of Wildlife Management from 1999 to 2020 and collected author names, the affiliated institutions, and the study species. We classified the gender of each author using Genderize.io, and calculated the men:women ratio of first and co-authors over time. To further investigate potential geographic and institutional bias, we classified the affiliated institutions by three categories: governmental, academic, and other. We then calculated the gender ratio based on those categories and by geographic regions. Finally, we explored if there is a gender bias by taxa. In 1999, authorships were dominated by men, with the men:women ratio at 7.29 and 8.63 for first and co-authorships, respectively. The gender gap gradually narrowed until the mid-2010s when the ratio became stagnant at ~1.5 and ~3.0 for first and co-authors, respectively. Although it is encouraging to see the improvement from two decades ago, the lack of progress over the past few years raises a red flag. We recommend further studies to ascertain barriers today’s women scientists face.

Poster Session  InPerson Presentation