LAUSR

Women have been active in STEM subjects, including the field of physiology, since the early days, yet, less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women. On top of this, the contribution of women to the field often receives little coverage. Anecdotally, our students (and many researchers) often seem to find it difficult to name important female physiologists. Despite being under acknowledged, female physiologists have been crucial to scientific advances with 12 women so far having been awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine. However, this is in stark contrast to 212 men!. Encouragingly, the number of female researchers in physiology is increasing, thanks to proactive approaches such as the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day which celebrates outstanding achievements of female researchers and encourages more girls to study STEM subjects. At higher education level, charters like the Athena SWAN awards at universities in the United Kingdom, provide turning points and force the sector to review policies and practices to increase gender equality. Additionally, bespoke grants including the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science and renowned leadership development initiatives tailored to females, for example Aurora fromAdvanced HE and Sustain from the Academy of Medical Science provide inspiration and guidance and help advance the representation of women in science. Over in the United States, the National Science Foundation has initiatives such as the ADVANCE program to support gender diversity of faculty in STEM, with a special initiative for women with disabilities in STEM in academia. But there is an urgent need to keep breaking any structural barriers and unfair processes that are still in place in the higher education sector. For example, gender bias, often unconscious, during interviews, salary negotiation, peer-review processes in publication and grant awards, promotions and short-term contracts are often difficult for women (and men) with caring responsibilities and the “leaky” pipeline in career progression means that fewer women make it to professor or senior management level. This is of course also true for physiology. Access to childcare at scientific meetings and conferences should continue to improve dramatically to facilitate participation of women OPEN ACCESS