Proposal asks universities to reconsider support if events fail to meet gender-equality criteria
Scientific conferences that only manage to achieve a marginal presence of women on panels and in leadership roles should have their funding cut, according to a proposal by the Leopoldina, Germany’s academy of sciences.
The proposal, made in a position paper issued last week, asks universities and science-funding bodies to withdraw financial support if women only make up a small minority of conference speakers and panel members. It also suggests that institutional funding and personal performance bonuses in higher education should be conditional on achieving gender-equality goals.