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  • Item type:Publication,
    Inclusive universities: promoting gender equality and sex-gender diversity Open PDF 
    (Frontiers Media SA, 2026-02-12)
    Sánchez Torrejón, Begoña
    ;
    Machín Álvarez, Macarena
    INTRODUCTION: This study investigates the implementation of gender equality and sex-gender diversity policies in a higher education context, within the G-FORCE Project funded by Erasmus+. METHODS: Two focus groups (N = 20) were conducted with participants from the academic community, administrative staff, research personnel, and external stakeholders, ensuring diverse generational and gender representation. Data were collected through guided focus group discussions, transcribed, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis with an interpretive approach. RESULTS: Three dimensions emerged: (1) knowledge and awareness of gender equality and sex-gender diversity, (2) institutional practices and university policies, and (3) university culture. Results indicate that although participants are aware of existing protocols and training, these initiatives are perceived as isolated, minimally innovative, and largely symbolic. CONCLUSION: A gap exists between formal policies and actual practices, reflecting a bureaucratic culture that limits inclusive transformation. Resistance is present among faculty and students committed to equality, yet systemic barriers persist. The study concludes that effective inclusion requires structural change, curricular integration of inclusive perspectives, creation of safe spaces, participatory governance, and alignment of institutional culture with gender equality and sex-gender diversity.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Engaging and Empowering Future Female Surgeons: Development of the Medical Student Section of the Society of Women in Urology Open PDF 
    (Elsevier BV, 2025-10)
    Booher, Allison G.
    ;
    Vereecken, Sasha J.
    ;
    Kim, Erin
    ;
    Penmatcha, Neharika
    ;
    Aponte, Alexandra
    OBJECTIVE: To describe a replicable model for a large-scale, cross-institutional, and student-driven initiative to promote gender equity within surgical fields. METHODS: To address the lack of a national infrastructure to support female medical students pursuing careers in Urology, a historically male-dominated specialty, the society of women in urology (SWIU) established its medical student section, called SWIUdents, as a student-led initiative to offer mentorship, education, and networking resources for future female urologists. In 2022, SWIUdents convened its first medical student leadership board, comprised of two co-chairs and four subcommittees focused on membership, program implementation, mentorship, and community relations. SWIUdents membership was open to medical students of all gender identities, and recruitment for the organization took place via official SWIU communications, social media, and word of mouth. RESULTS: As of April 2025, there are 319 SWIUdents members, 195 of which are current medical students, representing all regional sections of the American Urological Association (AUA), as well as international medical students. In the 2024 to 2025 academic year, SWIUdents paired 87 medical students with resident or faculty members in Urology. SWIUdents also maintains an active social media presence and offers a broad array of programming, with robust attendance at monthly webinars and journal clubs. CONCLUSIONS: This paper outlines the development and infrastructure of SWIUdents, a national, student-driven model which may be replicated by other specialty organizations aiming to engage and empower women and other groups underrepresented within their respective field.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Current institutionalized sexism in nursing degree classrooms: A multicenter qualitative study in Catalonia Open PDF 
    (Elsevier BV, 2025-09)
    Feijoo-Cid, Maria
    ;
    Llena-Riu, Andres
    ;
    Biurrun-Garrido, Ainoa
    ;
    Fuentes-Pumarola, Concepció
    ;
    Cámara-Liebana, David
    Everyday sexism is not always consciously identified in nursing degree classrooms. This leads to the reproduction of inequality that is legitimized in interpersonal relationships and institutional dynamics. AIM: Describe how nursing students perceive and experience everyday sexism in the classroom at various universities in Catalonia. METHODS: Multicenter study using quantitative and qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews. The study population comprised fourth-year nursing students in Catalonia. The interviews were conducted online from February to June 2022. An ad hoc interview script was designed based on the scientific literature on the perception of sexism and discrimination in the classroom. The anonymity and confidentiality of participants and data were ensured. RESULTS: Twenty fourth-year nursing students participated, 18 women and two men, ages 21 to 49. Use of the space was unequal: men occupy the back rows of the classroom, forming male-only groups. Moreover, men participate more often in large groups when a debate is established, and they do so impulsively. Women are more respectful and ask questions about class content. Male students tend to do less work in group projects but present more. Female students lead the group work, especially in terms of coordination and organization, and take responsibility for the more complex parts. However, they participate less in oral presentations. CONCLUSION: In the nursing classroom, women are invisibilized and limited in their use of space. They also take on excess work but participate less. Men participate more, reject inclusive language, and work together to claim their space. These dynamics create the conditions for a nursing degree education steeped in legitimized everyday sexism.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Replication of an Intervention to Mitigate Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching Yields Variable Results Across a Biology Department Open PDF 
    (American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), 2025-09-01)
    Mitchem, Lisa D.
    ;
    Rupnow, Rachel L.
    ;
    Jaeger, Collin P.
    ;
    Pezdek, Marissa N.
    ;
    Ganeng, Brenda K. Anak
    Student evaluations of teaching (SET) have repeatedly been shown to be biased against women instructors. Although few have been able to mitigate these biases, one team reported success in two courses by adding a short AntiBias statement to the beginning of SETs. We conducted a conceptual replication of that study to investigate the effectiveness of the AntiBias statement across a Department of Biological Sciences over three semesters. The AntiBias treatment inconsistently affected the SETs, sometimes improving women's scores but often not having any effect. Qualitative analysis showed that the types of comments students gave were mostly not affected by the conditions of treatment or instructor gender and were most frequently framed in positive connotation, implicitly about the instructor, and about course characteristics such as the logistics of the course. Our findings do not support the consistent replicability of the original work scaled to the department level yet shine an important light on SETs in the biology context. Moreover, this work suggests that a simple intervention to mitigate gender bias in teaching evaluations is not sufficient to remedy the multitude of issues with SETs. We discuss differences among studies and suggestions from the literature on ways to improve the evaluation of teaching.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Accidental Scientists: How Undergraduate Research in Political Science Can Help to Patch the "Leaky Pipeline" in STEM Education Open PDF 
    (2023)
    Mueller, L
    Education advocates lament the "leaky pipeline" in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), whereby students-especially minorities and women-drop out of STEM at successive stages of the educational system. Defining empirical political science as a branch of STEM, this article proposes that undergraduate research in political science can help to patch this leaky pipeline and expand access to scientific skills and habits of mind. I elaborate on three rationales to support my claim: (1) political science is a relatively diverse field of STEM; (2) college primes students to think like (political) scientists; and (3) students often encounter political science research opportunities for the first time as undergraduates, presenting an opportunity for faculty to "catch" those who selected out of STEM after high school. I substantiate my arguments by drawing on enrollment data, archival documents, the theories of John Dewey, and testimonials from former undergraduate researchers. I also recommend ways for political science departments to provide a meaningful STEM education by enhancing research programs.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Relative Grades and Gender Differences in STEM Enrollment
    (University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany, 2025)
    Fuchs, Larissa;Pinger, Pia
    ;
    Seeger, Philipp
    Based on novel administrative and survey data from Germany, this study investigates the importance of relative STEM performance in high school for the gender gap in STEM enrollment. We first document that males display a higher relative STEM performance than females, which however mainly emerges from females' stronger achievement in non-STEM subjects. Our findings further reveal that a one-standard-deviation increase in grade-based STEM advantage raises the likelihood of pursuing a STEM degree by approximately 19 percentage points for males, but only by half as much for females. A decomposition analysis shows that 26% of the STEM gender gap could be attributed to differences in grade-based STEM performance if major preferences resembled those of males. However, relative grades are largely unimportant in an environment where preferences mirror those of females. This suggests that STEM performance differences have limited influence on females' decisions to pursue STEM degrees. While STEM advantage significantly impacts observed gender gaps in STEM enrollment, this effect is primarily driven by males.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Women in Science: Where We Stand?—The WHEN Protocol Open PDF 
    (MDPI, 2025)
    Arnaboldi, Francesca
    ;
    Macagno, Alessia
    ;
    Villani, Marialuisa
    ;
    Biganzoli, Giacomo
    ;
    Bianchi, Francesca
    Gender disparity in scientific fields, identified with the acronym STEM, is a complex issue whose multiple causes have distant origins in time. In the early development of scientific disciplines, women were often denied access to education and professional opportunities, and their contributions to the scientific fields were frequently not recognized. These trends of underrepresentation gave rise to the male-dominated culture in STEM that persists today, as young women often lack female role models and are less likely to pursue careers in STEM, perpetuating the gender gap and limiting women’s influence and visibility in these fields. Here we present the protocol of the WHEN project, which aims to explore the perceptions that high-school students have of scientific careers and of the women in science, investigating whether gender stereotypes persist and can affect decisions about future paths. Through questionnaires, this study investigates the impact of socio-economic variables on the persistence of gender stereotypes and, most importantly, explores the potential for reducing them through direct engagement with female STEM role models.
  • Item type:Publication,
    The role of gender-specific factors in the choice of specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology: results from a survey among medical students in Germany Open PDF 
    (2022)
    Riedel, Maximilian
    ;
    Hennigs, André
    ;
    Dobberkau, Anna Maria
    ;
    Riedel, Caroline
    ;
    Bugaj, Till Johannes
    PURPOSE: The field of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) is facing growing competition for young professionals in Germany, with high interest rates among female graduates and a declining proportion of male students who choose residency training in the field. The aim of this study is to analyze general and gender-dependent factors that influence the decision for or against specialty training in OB/GYN among medical students in Germany. METHODS: Between February and November 2019, n = 346 medical students in their 5th and 6th year of undergraduate training at Heidelberg University received a questionnaire with 44 items. RESULTS: n = 286 students (61.3 female; 38.7% male) participated in the study. 28% of the female students and 9% of the male students had considered OB/GYN for their specialty training. The students reported different general and gender-specific influencing factors in their choice of a specialty. Both genders desired a good work-life-balance, however, in comparison with their female colleagues, male students had heavily weighted factors related to their later careers and professional success, including competition among colleagues. Male students had gained little practical experience during compulsory internships (26.9% for females vs. 8.8% for males) or had chosen their final-year elective in OB/GYN (15.9% for females vs. 5.5% for males). Female students had worried about the negative effects of their sex on their career (35.4% for females vs. 5.9% for males). CONCLUSION: OB/GYN must become more appealing and attractive to young female and male professionals alike. A better compatibility of career and family should go hand in hand with the implementation of differentiated, (extra) curricular teaching approaches that take the different preferences of female and male students into account.
  • Item type:Publication,
    A social cognitive perspective on gender disparities in self-efficacy, interest, and aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM): the influence of cultural and gender norms Open PDF 
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2022)
    Chan, R.C.H.
    Background: The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is well documented in developed countries, and yet public discussion of gender disparities in STEM in China is still in its nascent stage. Endorsement of traditional gender role beliefs and conformity to social norms are pertinent to Chinese culture, which may even exacerbate the gender disparities in STEM engagement. Grounded in social cognitive career theory, the present study drew on a national sample of secondary school students (N = 3020) in China to estimate gender disparities in self-efficacy, interest, and aspirations in STEM and examine how cultural and gender norms influence STEM engagement. Results: The proposed sequential mediation model was supported, in which girls were more likely to show lower levels of self-efficacy than boys; this was associated with lower interest in STEM and lower motivation to pursue STEM careers. The results also supported the moderating effect of traditional gender role beliefs and found that gender differences in self-efficacy, interest, and aspirations in STEM were more apparent among students who strongly endorsed stereotypical views of male and female roles. Conclusions: The findings provide important implications for efforts to improve girls’ access to STEM education through curriculum enrichment and out-of-school time programs to bridge the gender gap in STEM. Access to female role models and gender-responsive pedagogy is also essential to boost girls’ self-efficacy in STEM and eradicate traditional gender role beliefs among all students. © 2022, The Author(s).
  • Item type:Publication,
    Correction: Perceived barriers towards the importance and application of medical research: a source of gender disparity among medical undergraduates (BMC Medical Education, (2022), 22, 1, (767), 10.1186/s12909-022-03822-9) Open PDF 
    (2022)
    AlQirem, L.
    ;
    Al-Huneidy, L.
    ;
    Hammouri, M.
    ;
    Taha, H.
    ;
    Al-Somadi, H.
    Following publication of the original article [1], we have been informed that author Hana Taha has been incorrectly affiliated. The author affiliation has been updated above and the original article has been corrected. © The Author(s) 2022.