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Analysis of gender diversity in health-related Systematic Reviews

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No. 19 (2023): Junio
https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-7473.2023.71213

Abstract

There is an increasing recognition of women’s representation at work. However, there is still a gender gap in science that needs to be closed. Women come across with a glass ceiling in science mainly beyond graduate level, as women leave the academic track for reasons associated with socially-accepted gender-specific behavioural patterns. Generally, men are more likely to hold a prestigious authorship in a publication than women and a persistent bias in hiring, recognition and promotion, makes women's career path less linear than men’s. Thus, the aim of this work is to analyse the gender composition of systematic reviews published throughout the last two years in the most recognised database of systematic reviews in the health field. Methods: We searched in Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews for studies published between 01/07/2018 and 31/07/2020. Data was independently extracted by two reviewers. We calculated the proportion of authorships, odds ratio and prestige index and we show a Geographic distribution of publications by country. Results: 1139 papers were included, where 45% of all papers had more female than male authors, 57% of all papers had a female first author, 51% of studies had female correspondence authors and 40% of the sample had a female last author. Odds ratio showed that women have significantly higher chance to be first author or co-author, but significantly lower chance to hold a last authorship. Prestige index resulted to be -0.46. Finally, geographic representation from authors’ countries affiliation showed that research publications mainly come from developed or upper-middle income countries. In conclusion, there is significant female leadership in healthcare systematic reviews, but work still needs to be done to reach gender balance, especially in terms of prestigious authorships.

Keywords:

Gender Equity, Gender Role, Gender Gap, Analysis, Scientific

Author Biographies

Camila Montesinos-Guevara, Universidad UTE

Investigadora, Centro de Investigación en Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

Paula Zambrano-Achig, Universidad UTE

Autor de correspondencia, Investigadora, Centro de Investigación en Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

María José Masson, Universidad UTE

Investigadora, Centro de Investigación en Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

Andrés Viteri-García, Universidad UTE

Investigador, Centro de Investigación en Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

Emmanuelle Quentin, Universidad UTE

Investigadora, Centro de Investigación en Salud Pública y Epidemiología Clínica, Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

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How to Cite
Montesinos-Guevara, C., Zambrano-Achig, P. ., Masson, M. J., Viteri-García, A., & Quentin, E. (2023). Analysis of gender diversity in health-related Systematic Reviews. Revista Punto Género, (19), pp. 135–157. https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-7473.2023.71213
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Revista Punto Género
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales
Universidad de Chile
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