Mujeres en la ornitología colombiana: Perspectivas históricas y tendencias de participación en dos contextos académicos

Abstract

Globally, there is a movement to promote equity in academic environments due to the low representation of women. This study focuses on female participation within Colombian ornithology. We explore the current situation and the historical involvement of women in this field, highlighting their limited visibility in historical records. To address these inequalities, we propose an internal review to identify biases and suggest actions that strengthen equity in this field. In our analysis of the journal Ornitología Colombiana (OC) and the Colombian Ornithological Congress (CCO) between 2003 and 2023, we evaluated women's participation in various roles such as authors, editors, reviewers, thesis advisors, and thesis students, as well as their participation as keynote speakers and in oral and poster presentations. The results show that, on average, women represent 29.2% of authors in the journal, with 21.1% and 18.3% being first and last authors, respectively. This low representation extends to the editorial board and reviewers (one female editor editor-inin-chief, 28% female associate editors, and 15.6% female reviewers). The CCO exhibits similar trends, with only 37.2% of abstracts having at least one woman as co co-author. Alarmingly, female participation does not show an increasing trend. As possible evidence of the "leaky pipeline" in Colombian ornithology, we observe that over 50% of thesis authors are women, but this proportion decreases as they progress in their academic careers. In order to change these trends and strengthen the discipline, we present specific recommendations aimed at promoting diversity and equity in Colombian ornithology.