[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6611\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EGender equality figures promising but not the full story\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERon Mobed, chief executive of scientific publishing and analytics company Elsevier, said that broad metrics such as the number of women on boards did not always tell the full story of gender balance, as companies could always add non-executive directors or executives from functions where women are already well-represented, such as HR or legal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018You have to be very clear about what problem you\u2019re trying to solve,\u2019 he said. \u2018If the problem you\u2019re trying to solve is a number, the 30 % or the 50 %, it\u2019s actually very easy.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe said that the biggest issue is often leadership, so asking about the number of female CEOs \u2013 or rectors in the academic sector \u2013 would give a better picture. \u2018Then you have a massive problem because if you look at the pool for CEO it\u2019s absolutely vacant.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe was speaking on 12 May at the European launch of a report by Elsevier into gender balance in research, entitled Gender in the Global Research Landscape.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Elsevier CEO Ron Mobed, Commissioner Carlos Moedas and moderator Cathy Smith discussed gender balance in research on 12 May. Image courtesy of Elsevier\u0022 height=\u00222688\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/Elsevier%20Gender%20Report%20Brussels_Mobed_Moedas_Smith.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Elsevier CEO Ron Mobed, Commissioner Carlos Moedas and moderator Cathy Smith discussed gender balance in research on 12 May. Image courtesy of Elsevier\u0022 width=\u00224070\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EElsevier CEO Ron Mobed, Commissioner Carlos Moedas and moderator Cathy Smith discussed gender balance in research on 12 May. Image courtesy of Elsevier\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe report, which was based on an in-depth analysis of Elsevier\u2019s own Scopus database of peer-reviewed literature, found that between 2011 and 2015, 41 % of authors in the EU were women, up from 32 % for the period between 1996 and 2000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf the four European countries that were examined on an individual level \u2013 Denmark, France, Portugal and the UK \u2013 the star performer was Portugal where 49 % of papers were authored by women during that time period.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile the figures were broadly welcomed, there was widespread recognition that they only told part of the story.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPersonal experience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring a panel discussion of the report\u2019s findings, Professor Rolf Tarrach, who is president of the European University Association, said that while the data is solid, it didn\u2019t chime with his personal experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The proportion of women authors goes from 32 % to 41 % in 15 years. That\u2019s an increase of 30 %. I have been worrying or thinking about this issue for 20-odd years and I have not seen this increase.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe warned that researchers who were just fulfilling gender targets set by funding bodies could influence the figures by selecting which authors they added to papers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe EU\u2019s research commissioner, Carlos Moedas, said that the report was a good complement to the European Commission\u2019s own She Figures, which also track gender balance in research and innovation. These show that while women tend to outnumber men at student and graduate levels and there is broad gender balance at PhD level, there is still a deficiency of women in leadership positions, such as rectors or vice-chancellors.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Even if people can trick the system somehow, it\u2019s important to have those targets.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003ECarlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommissioner Moedas said that this gap means that while targets do not necessarily provide the full answer, they are an important step in the right direction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the public sector, we decided that it is very important to establish targets because the problem is so big. Even if people can trick the system somehow, it\u2019s important to have those targets. We come from a very low point in terms of the participation of women and so we have to push. If you don\u2019t give it a first push then nothing happens.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFuture of work\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther key findings from Elsevier\u2019s report were that while women are slightly behind men in terms of scholarly output, there is no evidence that this affects how their papers are downloaded or cited.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, there is a large gap between genders when it comes to the number of patent applications filed, a measure which is used as a proxy for innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBetween 2011 and 2015, only 12 % of patent applications in the EU were filed by women compared to 88 % by men.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEva Kaili MEP, who chairs the European Parliament\u2019s Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) body, said that one way to get women more involved was to improve the ability to work from home, which technology could help with.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I think we have to give more motivation for women who enter the sector, and not only researchers but \u2026 entrepreneurs,\u2019 she said. \u2018To make it easier to work from home, I think new technologies can actually help us there because you don\u2019t disrupt your job and you can keep working from home.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-8walzyf1h0f0ggc3rvwqyrds3nftslpwlcreyeq9mgk\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-8WaLZYF1H0F0gGc3rVWQYrDs3NFtslPWLcReyeQ9MGk\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]