Highlights
- •CVs from men applicants received higher scores for all categories evaluated compared to CVs from women despite applicant's career stage.
- •CVs from men had nearly three quarters more likely to be seen as having leadership potential than equivalent CVs from women, even though the CVs were exactly the same (except for the applicant's gender identification).
- •Both male and female evaluators gave lower grades for women's CVs.
- •Gender bias is prevalent in academia, even indexed by the Dentistry field, despite researchers' career stage.
Abstract
Objectives
This randomized controlled trial aimed to test whether women or men would be preferred
with identical curriculum vitae (CV); and the impact of the career stage in the evaluators’
choice.
Study Design and Setting
A simulated post-doctoral process was carried forward to be assessed for judgment.
Level 1 and 2 Brazilian fellow researchers in the field of Dentistry were invited
to act as external reviewers in a post-doctoral process and were randomly assigned
to receive a CV from a woman or a man. They were required to rate the CV from 0 to
10 in scientific contribution, leadership potential, ability to work in groups, and
international experience.
Results
For all categories of CVs evaluated, CVs from men received higher scores compared
to the CVs from women. Robust variance Poisson regressions demonstrated that men were
more likely to receive higher scores in all categories, despite applicants’ career
stage. For example, CVs from men were nearly three quarters more likely to be seen
as having leadership potential than equivalent CVs from women.
Conclusion
Gender bias is powerfully prevalent in academia in the dentistry field, despite researchers'
career stage. Actions like implicit bias training must be urgently implemented to
avoid (or at least decrease) that more women are harmed.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Clinical EpidemiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Gender Inequalities in the Dental Workforce: Global Perspectives.Adv Dent Res. 2019; 30: 60-68https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034519877398
- Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012; 109: 16474-16479https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211286109
- Have Women Broken the Glass Ceiling in North American Dental Leadership?.Adv Dent Res. 2019; 30: 78-84https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034519877397
- Are gender gaps due to evaluations of the applicant or the science? A natural experiment at a national funding agency.Lancet. 2019; 393: 531-540https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32611-4
- Gender differences in how scientists present the importance of their research: Observational study.BMJ. 2019; 367https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l6573
- The good, the bad, and the ugly of implicit bias.Lancet. 2019; 393: 502-504https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32267-0
- CONSORT 2010 Statement: Updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials.BMJ. 2010; 340: 698-702https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c332
- Reporting of Multi-Arm Parallel-Group Randomized Trials: Extension of the CONSORT 2010 Statement.JAMA - J Am Med Assoc. 2019; 321: 1610-1620https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.3087
- Response rate, response time, and economic costs of survey research: A randomized trial of practicing pharmacists.Res Soc Adm Pharm. 2016; 12: 141-148https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2015.07.003
- Gender inequality and restrictive gender norms: framing the challenges to health.Lancet. 2019; 393: 2440-2454https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30652-X
- Gender equality in science, medicine, and global health: where are we at and why does it matter?.Lancet. 2019; 393: 560-569https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)33135-0
- Academia and the Profession Annals of Internal Medicine Gender Differences in Time Spent on Parenting and Domestic.Ann Intern Med. 2014; 160: 344-353
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 09, 2021
Accepted:
May 17,
2021
Footnotes
Declarations of interest: none
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
