Women in limnology: From a historical perspective to a present‐day evaluation. (9th October 2022) - Catalán, Núria
Abstract: Research in limnology is nurtured by the work of many fascinating and passionate women, who have contributed enormously to our understanding of inland waters. Female limnologists have promoted and established the bases of our knowledge about inland waters and fostered the need of protecting the values of those ecosystems. However, on numerous occasions, their contribution to the advancement of limnology has not been duly recognized. Here, we review the presence of women in limnology through the history of the discipline: from the pioneers who contributed to the origins to present day' developments. We aim at visibilizing those scientists and establish them as role models. We also analyze in a simple and illustrative way the current situation of women in limnology, the scientific barriers they must deal with, and their future prospects. Multiple aspects fostering the visibility of a scientist, such as their presence in conferences, awards, or representation in societal or editorial boards show a significant gap, with none of those aspects showing a similar visibility of women and men in limnology. This article raises awareness of the obstacles that women in limnology faced and still face, and encourages to embrace models of leadership, scientific management, and assessment of research performance far from those commonly established. This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Methods Water and Life > Methods Abstract : Proportion of female limnologists as plenary speakers in conferences, award recipients, and members of both societies and journal editorial boards. Box plots show the median, 25th and 75th percentiles, and whiskers extend to the full range of values observed. The dashed vertical line indicates a women representation of 50% and it is shown as a reference of the unbiased situation. Data include: 283 plenary talks of 5 conferences during the period 2004–2020; 117 awards given by 5 limnological societies for the period 2000–2020; 32 limnological societies; and 45 journals in the field of limnology.