Royal Society intake of female fellows dips again

A fifth of the Royal Society’s newly elected fellows are women, down by 4 percentage points from 2018.

The proportion of female fellows elected to the Royal Society has fallen for the second year in a row. Ten of the 51 scientists (about 20 per cent) who became fellows this year are women, while 12 of the 50 researchers who gained their society fellowship in 2018 (24 per cent) are women.  

This is a slight setback for the society, which had previously increased the share of women elected as fellows from 17 per cent in 2013 to 26 per cent in both 2016 and 2017. However, the proportion of women elected as foreign members of the Royal Society has increased from two of 10 members in 2018, to three of 10 this year, according to an announcement on 16 April.