Science for whom? The influence of the regional academic circuit on gender inequalities in Latin America

TL;DR

This study examines how the regional Latin-American academic circuit influences gender inequalities, showing women are more engaged locally but less recognized globally, highlighting the importance of regional focus for gender equality in science.

Contribution

It reveals the relationship between regional academic engagement and gender disparities, emphasizing thematic alignment and recognition differences across circuits in Latin America.

Findings

Women are more active in the regional circuit.

Men dominate the global circuit.

Regional engagement correlates with gender-specific research topics.

Abstract

The Latin-American scientific community has achieved significant progress towards gender parity, with nearly equal representation of women and men scientists. Nevertheless, women continue to be underrepresented in scholarly communication. Throughout the 20th century, Latin America established its academic circuit, focusing on research topics of regional significance. Through an analysis of scientific publications, this article explores the relationship between gender inequalities in science and the integration of Latin-American researchers into the regional and global academic circuits between 1993 and 2022. We find that women are more likely to engage in the regional circuit, while men are more active within the global circuit. This trend is attributed to a thematic alignment between women's research interests and issues specific to Latin America. Furthermore, our results reveal that the mechanisms contributing to gender differences in symbolic capital accumulation vary between circuits. Women's work achieves equal or greater recognition compared to men's within the regional circuit, but generally garners less attention in the global circuit. Our findings suggest that policies aimed at strengthening the regional academic circuit would encourage scientists to address locally relevant topics while simultaneously fostering gender equality in science.