@article{309c61d82c0d4122bc464b510902a71a,
title = "Sticky steps and the gender gap: how thoughtful practices could help keep caregivers in science",
abstract = "Many fewer women than men hold senior academic positions, a widely recognized and increasing problem. Our goal is to identify effective and feasible solutions. We begin by providing an in-depth assessment of the drivers of this gender inequity. In our synthesis of existing data, we provide many lines of evidence highlighting caregiving as a primary main factor. This is not a 'new' insight per se, but a point worth repeating that we back up by a strong and synthetic body of recent data. We also believe that our analysis provides a step forward in tackling a complex issue. We then develop a more detailed understanding of the challenges academic caregivers face and discuss whether and why it is important to keep caregivers in science. We find that the attrition due to caregiving should not be seen as a factor but rather as a process with multiple 'sticky steps' that eventually drive caregivers out of science-which, as we argue, is partly also good news. Indeed, it is here that we believe actions could be taken that would have a real impact: for example, one could effectively increase and expand upon current funding practices that focus on caregiver career advancement.",
keywords = "Matilda effect, caregiving, funding, gender, leaky pipeline",
author = "Stephanie Meirmans and Lamatsch, {Dunja K.} and Maurine Neiman",
note = "Funding Information: This study was funded by the University of Innsbruck in the form of a LFUI guest professorship to M.N. Acknowledgements Funding Information: Ceci & Williams [] suggested providing grants after leaves of absence for caregivers. There already exist some career gap-focused grants from the UK and from the EU. These types of grants might be particularly crucial for caregivers that have taken extended time off. One challenge posed by grant schemes like the re-entry Marie Sk{\l}odowska Curie grants, however, is the requirement imposed on the scientist to move countries. We therefore suggest moving such career gap grants into a different section of the European funding program—a section that does not require such mobility. We also suggest that career gap funding programs should also be taken up by other national funding agencies. Funding Information: The US National Institutes of Health as well as the US National Science Foundation provide funding schemes that allow a postdoctoral researcher with an NIH grant who is also a parent to hire a laboratory assistant. One could also imagine expanding this form of support to include funding that enables use of other forms of assistance, e.g. administrative duties, statistical advice or paper editing, that could make a qualitative difference for early-career scientist-caregivers. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors.",
year = "2022",
month = nov,
day = "30",
doi = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1837",
language = "English",
volume = "289",
pages = "20221837",
journal = "Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society",
issn = "0962-8452",
publisher = "Royal Society of London",
number = "1987",
}