Gender gap in US biology labs

US research has found that while women are consistently attracted to studying biology in graduate school, numbers drop dramatically among faculty members. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study authors Jason Sheltzer and Joan Smith, from MIT, examined the nation’s top 24 biology research institutions as ranked by US News & World Report. They focused on programs such as cell biology, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, which typically attract many women.

The researchers determined the number of male and female postdocs and grad students in the labs of 2062 faculty members. Overall, 50% of all biology graduate students and 40% of biology postdocs were female. In labs run by female professors, women made up 53% of grad students and 46% of postdocs; labs run by men meanwhile had 47% female grad students and 36% female postdocs.

The researchers then turned to the labs of high-achieving faculty members, including Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators, National Academy of Sciences members and Nobel Prize winners. While female HHMI investigators ran labs with 48% female postdocs, only 31% of postdocs in the labs of male HHMI investigators were female. In the labs of male Nobel laureates, male grad students outnumbered female grad students by two to one, and male postdocs outnumbered female postdocs by more than three to one.

The researchers further found that 144 out of 311 assistant professors working at the top 24 research institutions had completed a postdoctoral fellowship in one of the labs surveyed. The principal investigators of these labs were more likely to have markers of elite status - and also employed 14% fewer female postdocs than their counterparts. This is likely to contribute to the fact that only 36% of assistant professors across the US, and 18% of full professors, are women.

“What we found is that these [elite] labs really function as a gateway to the professoriate,” said Sheltzer. “So we think the fact that they’re not hiring very many women is important for understanding why there are still so few female faculty members.”

The researchers could only guess at the reason for this gender gap, with Sheltzer suggesting, “There is a chance that self-selection among female students plays a role - maybe there are fewer applications to these labs from women. In addition to that, there could be conscious or unconscious gender bias on the part of male faculty members, which makes them more reluctant to hire women.”

However, Sheltzer’s PhD thesis adviser, Angelika Amon, said bringing attention to the imbalance offers an opportunity for faculty members and institutions to try to remedy the situation.

“Once you know what the problem is, you can actually do something about it,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for these highly accomplished scientists to really reach out and make a very conscious effort to do something about the gender landscape of science at high-powered research institutions.”

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