Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions

Anaïs Llorens; Athina Tzovara; Ludovic Bellier; Ilina Bhaya-Grossman; Aurélie Bidet-Caulet; William K Chang; Zachariah R Cross; Rosa Dominguez-Faus; Adeen Flinker; Yvonne Fonken; Mark A Gorenstein; Chris Holdgraf; Colin W Hoy; Maria V Ivanova; Richard T Jimenez; Soyeon Jun; Julia W Y Kam; Celeste Kidd; Enitan Marcelle; Deborah Marciano; Stephanie Martin; Nicholas E Myers; Karita Ojala; Anat Perry; Pedro Pinheiro-Chagas; Stephanie K Riès; Ignacio Saez; Ivan Skelin; Katarina Slama; Brooke Staveland; Danielle S Bassett; Elizabeth A Buffalo; Adrienne L Fairhall; Nancy J Kopell; Laura J Kray; Jack J Lin; Anna C Nobre; Dylan Riley; Anne-Kristin Solbakk; Joni D Wallis; Xiao-Jing Wang; Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg; Sabine Kastner; Robert T Knight; Nina F Dronkers

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.06.002

Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions

Neuron. 2021 Jul 7;109(13):2047-2074. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.06.002.

Authors

Anaïs Llorens¹, Athina Tzovara², Ludovic Bellier³, Ilina Bhaya-Grossman⁴, Aurélie Bidet-Caulet⁵, William K Chang³, Zachariah R Cross⁶, Rosa Dominguez-Faus⁷, Adeen Flinker⁸, Yvonne Fonken⁹, Mark A Gorenstein¹⁰, Chris Holdgraf¹¹, Colin W Hoy³, Maria V Ivanova¹², Richard T Jimenez³, Soyeon Jun¹³, Julia W Y Kam¹⁴, Celeste Kidd¹², Enitan Marcelle³, Deborah Marciano¹⁵, Stephanie Martin¹⁶, Nicholas E Myers¹⁷, Karita Ojala¹⁸, Anat Perry¹⁹, Pedro Pinheiro-Chagas²⁰, Stephanie K Riès²¹, Ignacio Saez²², Ivan Skelin²³, Katarina Slama³, Brooke Staveland¹⁵, Danielle S Bassett²⁴, Elizabeth A Buffalo²⁵, Adrienne L Fairhall²⁶, Nancy J Kopell²⁷, Laura J Kray²⁸, Jack J Lin²⁹, Anna C Nobre³⁰, Dylan Riley³¹, Anne-Kristin Solbakk³², Joni D Wallis¹⁰, Xiao-Jing Wang³³, Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg³⁴, Sabine Kastner³⁵, Robert T Knight¹⁰, Nina F Dronkers³⁶

Affiliations

¹ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: anaisllorens@hotmail.com.
² Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Institute for Computer Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Sleep Wake Epilepsy Center | NeuroTec, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: athina.tz@gmail.com.
³ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁵ Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR 5292, University of Lyon, Lyon, France.
⁶ Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Research Hub, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁷ STEPS Program, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.
⁸ NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁹ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁰ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹¹ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; The Berkeley Institute for Data Science, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹³ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Science College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
¹⁴ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹⁵ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁶ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Experimental Psychology and Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Department of Psychiatry, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁸ Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Center for Experimental Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
²⁰ Laboratory of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, Stanford Human, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
²¹ School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA.
²² Department of Neurosurgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.
²³ Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
²⁴ Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Psychiatry, and Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.
²⁵ Department of Physiology and Biophysics and School of Medicine, Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
²⁶ Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Computational Neuroscience Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
²⁷ Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁸ Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
²⁹ Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, Irvine, CA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Experimental Psychology and Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Department of Psychiatry, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³¹ Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1980, USA.
³² Department of Psychology, Oslo University Hospital-Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurosurgery, Oslo University Hospital-Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway; RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neuropsychology, Helgeland Hospital, Mosjøen, Norway.
³³ Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA.
³⁴ School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 6997801 Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
³⁵ Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.

Abstract

Despite increased awareness of the lack of gender equity in academia and a growing number of initiatives to address issues of diversity, change is slow, and inequalities remain. A major source of inequity is gender bias, which has a substantial negative impact on the careers, work-life balance, and mental health of underrepresented groups in science. Here, we argue that gender bias is not a single problem but manifests as a collection of distinct issues that impact researchers' lives. We disentangle these facets and propose concrete solutions that can be adopted by individuals, academic institutions, and society.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Female
Gender Equity*
Humans
Male
Research / organization & administration
Research Personnel*
Sexism*
Universities / organization & administration*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding