Stop overlooking women!

It became clear again how clear the path towards gender equality remains in the last few days when the Nobel Prizes were awarded. Twelve award winners This year there were: ten scholars, one writer and one organizer honored.

Dominance of men among award winners Not unusual. In the past, when today's remarkable discoveries were made, men made up the overwhelming majority in science – this is the explanation often given.

The Nobel Prizes were originally intended to go to those who have provided the greatest benefit to humanity over the past year. Decision-making bodies have long ago abandoned this principle: people are often rewarded for ideas that are decades old.

In fact, this cannot explain the majority of award winners being male: one A study conducted by Per Lonemann and colleagues Accordingly, women are significantly underrepresented among award winners even if we take into account the proportion of women in the discipline in question at the typical time of winning ideas.

The circle of those who can nominate people for the Nobel Prize has now (also) been expanded to include women. As a result, the number of women among candidates these days is much greater than before. However, since candidates are screened for scientific superiority over several years, the potential success of this procedure can only be expected after a significant delay.

Gender bias may seem likely given the small number of winners. After all, most people will never win a Nobel Prize. Not even if they are committed to the broad well-being of humanity. But the imbalance illustrates what many of us notice time and time again in everyday life: women are still often overlooked in science.