Half of South Africa’s new academicians are women

The same goes for new members of South Africa’s young academy

The Academy of Science of South Africa has addressed the gender imbalance in African science academies further with its 2020 intake. Of the 31 elected members announced on 14 October, 15 were women. This is the largest percentage of women elected in any year to the academy.

Last year, eight out of 23 new members were women. In 2018 the number of women was also eight, but from 20 new members. In the previous year, 17 members were women but in a larger pool of 41.