Although women's participation in science over the past 60 years has increased, this growth has been accompanied by widening gender gaps in productivity and no impact on academic careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Among the various factors, motherhood is, without a doubt, an important topic of discussion. Pregnancy and maternity planning represent a challenge and stress in the researcher's academic trajectory, especially at doctoral and postdoctoral levels, since in addition to uncertainties, there is a lack of institutional rights and policies to support these families. The result of this is that, in general, in Brazil, female scientists have children at an older age, compared to the national average age. When it comes to research professors, several studies have shown that maternity has a negative impact on career progression, especially among women.
Faced with a highly unfavorable scenario, many researchers, especially women, struggle daily to reconcile their careers with family activities and find themselves competing with their peers, and exemplifying, with a lack of equity in resources. With the motivation to contribute to the change of scenery and the inconvenience of seeing and living situations with the absence of parity, actions have been emerging to make a difference. One of the great examples is the Parent Movement in Science, which, with a great outreach, has researches that collect data on the impact of children on their scientific careers. In addition, by bringing the discussion on maternity and paternity in science in seminars, symposia, social networks, scientific articles and in different bodies, such as the CNPq, it made it possible to include periods of maternity leave in the Lattes curriculum, for example. It is no exaggeration to say that these movements are responsible for concrete results, as a result, some financing notices started to consider the period of maternity leave in the analysis of the curriculum. The Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), in the notices for the programs Scientist of Our State (CNE) and Young Scientist of Our State (JCNE) - 2020, added a year to the period of evaluation of scientific productivity , in the case of the birth or adoption of children in the last five years. The JCNE notice also considered one more year in accounting time. The Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS), in its public notice for the Gaucho Researcher Program 2019, admitted an extra year in the evaluation of CV Lattes for each maternity leave or adopter in the period. There are some federal educational institutions that, in the most varied internal public notices, include research professors who have become mothers, as well as some postgraduate programs in their respective admissions selections. The consideration varies for each notice, but it usually increases the productivity review period or provides score bonuses in the curriculum.
The Serrapilheira Institute, the first non-profit private institution for the promotion of science in Brazil, in its calls for submission of proposals, considers the year of obtaining the researcher's doctoral degree as one of the criteria for accepting applications and establishes that the minimum date can be adjusted by up to one year for women with one child and by two years for women with two or more children.
It is important to highlight the movement of some Brazilian scientific societies in relation to gender issues. Among them we can mention the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) and the Brazilian Societies of Physics (SBF), of Chemistry (SBQ) and of Mathematics (SBM). All of these have, in recent years, fought for policies of better equality between men and women. In this sense, the survey carried out by the SBQ Women's Center, on the need for physical structure to receive researcher mothers with their children at its annual meeting, was of extreme relevance. Although the in-person event did not materialize, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the step was taken and, for sure, it will make the presence of many mothers viable, in addition to serving as an example for other conferences.
In this text, there is a brief summary of the initiatives that circulate in the country with the aim of minimizing the effects of motherhood on the career of women scientists. Unfortunately, to date, national development agencies could not be included in this list. However, the movement is growing and is well structured, so we believe that, very soon, this will be a national reality.
Renata holds a bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree in chemistry from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, being the last in the area of ??organic physical chemistry with an exchange period at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey. Postdoc at IQ-Unicamp with an emphasis on polyelectrolyte and coacervate complexes. She is currently a professor at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), at Campus Medianeira.
AUTHORS
Renata Mello Giona & Vanessa do Nascimento
REFERENCES
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