Building a pathway for diversity in plant sciences in Argentina: highlighting the work of women scientists through virtual activities.

AUGE, GABRIELA; DE LEONE, MARÍA JOSÉ; DEANNA, ROCIO; OLIFERUK, SONIA; RIBONE, PAMELA; WELCHEN, ELINA

Biology and Life Sciences Forum

MDPI

Lugar: Basel; Año: 2020 vol. 4

2673-9976

ncouraging the participation of a diverse workforce in academia increases plurality as it broadens the range of skills, ways of thinking, and experiences. Institutions and professional societies have been putting efforts on building plans that help make workplaces, conferences, education, and extension programs more relatable to a highly diverse population. Argentina has an overall gender-balanced workforce in the sciences (~53% women/total), with an even higher representation in disciplines related to plant sciences. However, media outlets and national conferences related to genetics, botany, plant physiology, ecology, and molecular biology, fail to reflect those numbers as the proportion of women invited for interviews, plenary lectures, and symposia falls below ~30%. As a way to increase the visibility of the wealth of plant science topics and experimental approaches in which Argentinian women work, and to facilitate connections among them across the country and abroad, we created