Editorial: Women in Science, Chemistry Following UNESCO's official celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Frontiers in Chemistry decided to run a special issue "Women in Science: Chemistry". Indeed, although science and gender equality are essential to ensure
Abstract
sustainable development, less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women. Even more, female students in science disciplines with relatively higher female participation rates (e.g., biology and chemistry) still experience similar gender issues as students in male-dominated science disciplines (e.g., physics and mathematics) [1,2]. In some countries, academic institutes created dedicated committees to promote women in science. CNRS, the national center for research in France, created such a committee in 2001 because "Science cannot deprive itself of half of the talents" (Antoine Petit, CNRS president, 2016). Thanks to this effort, in 2016, 35% of researchers in public research in France were women (38% in chemistry) against an average of 14.6% in the EU. Nevertheless, at this rate, parity will be reached only in 2088 among permanent researchers, while it is approximately reached among PhDs. Jessica Lober Newsome for the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology and the Royal Society of Chemistry noted that "men and women in UK PhD programs start their graduate work enthusiastic about the prospect of a career in the chemistry professoriate, but by the third year, the proportion of men planning careers in research had dropped from 61% to 59%...while for the women, the number had plummeted from 72% in the first year to 37% as they finish their studies" [3].
Domains
Analytical chemistry
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