The Marginalisation of Women in the History of Science: Enabling Female Participation and Visibility in the Scientific Community

Abstract

Gender inequality in science remains a persistent phenomenon with deep historical roots and continues to be shaped by structural barriers that limit women’s participation, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also in other regions of the world. Throughout the centuries, women have been marginalised, rendered invisible, and systematically excluded from scientific production, despite their valuable contributions. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) (2024) [1, 2], this inequality is sustained by four structural knots: socioeconomic inequality and poverty, the sexual division of labour, the concentration of power, and patriarchal cultural norms. These factors have shaped and reinforced women’s exclusion from decision making and leadership spaces, perpetuating the dominance of “boys’ clubs” in science. Intergenerational belonging to these closed structures has consolidated a distorted perception of intellectual potential, where talent and capability have been wrongly associated with gender rather than merit. In light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean (Gender Indicators 2023), this presentation will examine the transformation of the scientific community into a space that is psychologically and emotionally healthier, as well as more inclusive and diverse for today’s and tomorrow’s global scientific diaspora.