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GENDER IMBALANCE IN POLICY MAKING LEVEL IN SCIENCE  AND ETHICAL ISSUE 

 

Shamima Parvin Lasker   

Professor and Head 

Department of Anatomy, City Dental College  

Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

 

ABSTRACT:  When the achievement of women leadership in Science and technology (S&T) is 

heighten in developed nations in comparison to women in developing countries, it is unfortunate 

that women are invariably left below, rarely reaching decision-making positions in S&T in 

Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition are female but when it 

comes to leadership in science, it is difficult to find a Marie Curie in Bangladesh. Men are twenty 

times more likely than women to reach the top level positions in research. Women are under-

represented in almost in all scientific boards. The scarcity of women in senior positions in such 

bodies inevitably means that their opinions are less likely to be voiced in policy and decision-

making processes, which may lead to bias decision-making and priority setting in scientific 

research. The causes of lower representation of women in S&T are discussed. All the causes 

raise ethical questions and violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDTH). 

Millennium development goals can never be accomplished without the active participation of 

women who represent 50 percent of the population, particularly their involvement in science 

education.  Based on this analysis, a change of culture is required to improve gender imbalance 

in decision-making level in science.  

 

KEY WORDS: gender imbalance, policy level, science and ethical issue 

INTRODUCTION: It is true that women representation in top positions or policy making levels in 

science are less through out the world. Women hold less than 15% of the full professorships in 

Europe, even though more than half of the European student population is female. American 

women earned over 67 percent of Ph.D.s in graduate schools of medicine, dentistry and 

Engineering. But the percentage of women in decision making levels in science departments 

are still less then 20%. There have been 513 winners of the Nobel Prize in the science, only 

about 44 (6%) have been women. A study commissioned by the Organization of Islamic 

Conference (OIC) Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation found that 

there are only 18 (4%) women scientists among the top 381 OIC scientists. There are also very 



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few women elected members in Islamic World Academy of Sciences or the Academy of 

Sciences for Developing World (TWAS). In India, women are increasingly adopting science 

careers, although their ratio to the total higher position is still in single digit. According to 

Pakistan Council for Science and Technology, the representation of women in R&D 

organizations is hardly 2.7 percent of the existing manpower. 

When the achievements of women leadership in S&T is heighten in developed nations in 

comparison to women in developing countries, it is unfortunate that women are invariably left 

below, rarely reaching decision-making positions in S&T in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Prime 

Minister and Leader of Opposition are female but when it comes to leadership in science, it is 

difficult to find a Marie Curie in Bangladesh. Although the involvement of women in science 

education are increasing but it is not impressive. Women are rarely included in the boards of 

scientific organizations and academic councils of universities. The scarcity of women in senior 

positions in such bodies inevitably means that their opinions are less likely to be voiced in policy 

and decision-making processes, which may lead to bias decision-making and priority setting in 

scientific research in Bangladesh. 

This article examines the ethical concern for gender imbalance in top position in science that 

world needs to overcome violation and ensure Human Rights and achieve Millennium 

development goals. 

ARE FEMALES INTELLECTUALLY WEAK? Literature depicted that the first technical name in 

science was male - Imhotep - the architect of the first pyramid. The second technical name was 

female - En Hedu'Anna (c.2354 BC). Certainly women were questioners and thinkers long 

before 4,000 years ago. In most myths and religions preserved that the beginning of agriculture, 

civilization, mathematics, calendars, time keeping, laws, and medicine were in the hands of 

women.  

Scientifically men and women had the same amount of grey matter in their heads and a nation 

has to utilize the intellectual capacity of them for its own good as they could contribute to 

conservation of biodiversity, protection of the environment and ensuring food security. 

The majority of women sees and feels reality in a way different from men. Of course, there are 

exceptions but because of gender and because of historical and social compulsions, women 

tend to view the world in a more holistic way and more spontaneously see and feel inter-



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dependence. Director, Canadian International Development Agency said that women have the 

capacity to create bridges more easily than empires, hierarchies and walls. More women in all 

fields of science will probably usher a new scientific era, a new kind of science that recognizes 

the validity of a different approach.  

CAUSE OF LOWER REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE: 

1. Women traditional roles in the home 

2. Patriarchal society 

3. Lack of family support 

4. A heavily male-dominated field  

5. Culture of negative bias 

6. Socio economic factors  

7. Misattribute personal or professional conflicts to sexism. 

8. Fear of science  

9. Recognition   

10. Barriers to Entry  

11. Socialization Barriers 

12. Professional support  

13. Networking  

14. Education system 

15. Schooling system  

ETHICAL ISSUE: The above mentioned causes of lower representation of women in science 

are true for each woman in every corner of the word. If we go in depth clarification for individual 

cause, we will see that discrimination is the main cause behind this which is not scientific and it 

raises ethical questions. This discriminations cause large levels of widespread deprivation that 

make the women more vulnerable, subjecting them to silent suffering. 

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 stated that “freedom  

to hold opinions without interference.” Article 21 of Universal Declaration on the Human 

Genome and Human Rights in 1997 stated “States should also undertake to facilitate on this 

subject an open international discussion, ensuring the free expression of various socio-cultural, 

religious and philosophical opinions”  and “Freedom to be a scientist from any group of persons 

with no discrimination”. 



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From above article, it  stands that, science needs a foundation for scientific thought not based 

on discrimination. Both the men & women scientists should give equal incentives for their hard 

work. 

DISCUSSION: Since forty years ago (development decade), it was considered that the poverty, 

hunger and unemployment are the problem for the development. This concept has proved to be 

an oversimplification on the context what is happening in the real life in the area of gender, 

economic equity, environment degradation and jobless economic growth.  

From 90s, it is witness of gender, economic equity and environment in ethical point of view. 

The Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also identify gender 

equality and women empowerment as central cross cutting goals. But the current system is that 

a large percentage of graduate women are not reinvesting their skills in the economy, owing to 

traditional gender roles that are no longer in accordance with the demands of modern women 

and men. Employers, policy-makers, scientists and society all need to consider whether we can 

afford to lose such a large number of trained specialists from the workforce.  

CONCLUSION: A change of culture is required to improve gender imbalance in research and 

decision-making level in science.  We need to ensure that men and women who want to have 

families are not prevented from having careers and contributing to society in every way that they 

can. This can only be achieved by a significant change in the way that the society and 

individuals think about the roles of men and women and by taking positive action to improve the 

working conditions and favorable support at all stages of their careers. Millennium development 

goals can never be accomplished without the active participation of women who represent 50 

percent of the population, particularly their involvement in science education.  

REFERENCES:  

1. 4000 Years of Women in Science: How long have women been active scientists? 
http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/newintro.html 
 
2. EN HEDU'ANNA http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/EN.html 

3. Kyaw Myo Lwin Frank. A recent graduate’s perspective. Asia Life Science Council. 
http://asialifesciencecouncil.net/forum 

4. Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui. A New Scientific Era? Editor, Pakistan Link. June 11, 2004 
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Editorial/06112004.html 



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5. Suresh Menon. Where are the women? Of the 513 Nobel winners in the sciences, only 11 have 
been women. Why? The Hindu newspaper, 28 October 2007.  

6. Wagdy Sawahel.  New network to raise profile of Muslim women scientists. Science and 
Development Network. 4 August 2008. 
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/new-network-to-raise-profile-of-muslim-women-scien.html 

7. S. Nagesh Kumar. 'Women must be encouraged to take up science' “The Hindu” Online edition of 
India's National Newspaper. Thursday, October 19, 2000 

 
8. Cecily  Cannan  Selby. Does bias in science hold women back? The FASEB Journal 
2006;20:1284-1287. 
 
9. Anna Ledin, Lutz Bornmann, Frank Gannon & Gerlind Wallon.  A persistent problem: Traditional 
gender roles hold back female scientists. European Molecular Biology 2007; 8 (11): 982-987.   

10. Hasina Akhter.  http://agora.forwomeninscience.com/index.php/2008/07/more-women-scientists-
in-bangladesh/ 

11. Sex and science. Are women discriminated against in the lab? Or are gender imbalances due to 
intellectual differences? Academia , 2001 
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2001/04/12/science_women 

12. Henry Etzkowitz, Carol Kemelgor, Michael Neuschatz & Brian Uzzi.  Barriers to Women in 
Academic Science and Engineering. Who Will Do Science? Educating the Next Generation, 
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. 
http://people.mills.edu/spertus/Gender/EKNU.html 
 


