Academic and Science Careers GenPORT Research Synthesis 2

This Research Synthesis is about the issue of why women continue to be under-represented at the top of academic hierarchy and the implications for policy to solve this situation. 

There are many explanations for gendered differences in scientific career trajectories, but two main approaches stand out. The first is related to the structure of the scientific career and its modelling on the male ‘norm’, whilst the second relates to a lack of support and gender bias – that may or may not be unconscious. These two actors – although at play throughout the entire academic career – impact differently when they intersect with key points throughout the life-course.