Why women scientists intervene 50% less than men scientists in the media
CREAF's Head of Policy Interaction and Institutional Relations, Alicia Pérez-Porro, is one of the scientists participating in the recent survey Participación de las científicas como fuentes expertas en los medios: motivaciones y obstáculos, carried out by the Science Media Center (SMC) Spain and the Gureiker research group at the University of the Basque Country. The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) publishes the report, which was recently presented at an event closed by the Spanish Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant. Pérez-Porro stressed that she is acting as a spokesperson in the media as “a responsibility to disseminate scientific knowledge and not to help me in my career”. And she recalled that being a spokesperson requires training and being able to adjust the narrative.
This study is based on the SMC Spain team's reflection on the gender imbalance among scientific voices in the media. And from the observation that women scientists are less willing to talk to journalists. The result is a gap that affects how science is perceived, in the words of Izaskun Lacunza, director general of FECYT. “It seems that women are inhibited from public debate, because 50% of scientific opinions are not disseminated and belong to women”, Lacunza reminded. “We need women scientists in this public debate and to identify why they are not present”.
Lack of time due to family reconciliation is one of the barriers that more clearly affects women than men, according to the responses of the research staff surveyed: it is the reason given by 22.9% of women compared to 10% of men.
The management of hate on social networks and its connection with exposure to the media was also on the table when presenting the report. In this case, a man, Alfredo Corell, professor at the University of Seville, commented on his experience of harassment received on social networks at the round table following the presentation of the study.
