The attrition of women from STEM careers has been attributed to many factors, such as work/life balance, biased hiring committees, and prejudiced editorial boards. But might it also be that women still do not see themselves as “real” scientists, or lack female role models? Miranda Hart reports on research examining women’s visibility in two high-profile scientific publications. Not only were men far more likely to be the corresponding author on scientific papers and more likely to appear as a featured scientist, there were also far fewer photos of women, even among advertisements and stock photos. Science journals continue to portray the image of a scientist as almost exclusively male, which undoubtedly trickles down to young girls, who are struggling to see where they fit in.
LSE Impact Blog – https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/09/18/improved-representation-of-female-scientists-in-the-media-can-show-future-generations-of-women-that-they-belong/ [1]