Jennifer Hunt
Women face a ‘glass ceiling’ effect during their careers in many sectors, and science is no exception. A recent Nature’s Editorial (claims that “[i]n the United States and Europe around half of those who gain doctoral degrees in science and engineering are female – but barely one-fifth of full professors are women” (Nature Editorial 2013). Although it occurs – even prevails – in many sectors, the existence of a glass ceiling for women in science is particularly jarring since, as claimed by Robert Merton, science should follow the norm of universalism according to which all scientists are judged objectively on the base of their scientific merits, regardless of their “personal or social attributes” (Merton 1942). The evidence of inequality in female and male scientists’ careers has urged many scholars to study whether observing few female scientists in highly ranked positions results from gender discrimination in the promotion or differences in productivity, personal choices, or constraints (Sonnert and Holton 1995, Ceci and Williams 2011).