What women in research really want: our reflections from facilitating a joint webinar with INASP and the Mawazo Institute
The authors of this blog post, Drs. Zainab Yunusa-Kaltungo (Nigeria) and Nafisa M.K. Elehamer (Sudan) are Rising Scholars Stewards who co-facilitated an event on behalf of INASP in collaboration with the Mawazo Institute in 2024. You can read the full event report here. Here are their reflections on the event and the discussions that took place:
The webinar, titled The Realities of Women in Research: Perspectives and Experiences of African Women focused on advancing gender balance in academia in low- and middle-income countries, a shared goal of INASP and the Mawazo Institute.
Both organisations came together to discuss finding and implications of surveys they had conducted separately. INASP’s Voices of Early Career Researchers report reflects on the needs of researchers with a gender lens, titled An equitable knowledge ecosystem must include the voices of women and men. The Mawazo Institute’s survey is called the Status of African Women in Research. Despite conducting their research independently, both organisations arrived at strikingly similar conclusions.
The webinar took place in June 2024, coinciding with mass protests in Kenya. Despite this, participants and the Mawazo Institute’s facilitators remained composed. The webinar featured presentations from INASP and the Mawazo Institute on their survey findings, followed by interactive breakout room discussions.
On funding opportunities for women
Dr. Zainab Yunusa-Kaltungo co-facilitated a group discussion on funding opportunities for women. Below are some of her reflections:
It was my first time using Miro, a cloud based workspace tool to take notes in real time.
There were preset questions to guide the discussion:
- What measures can ensure equitable funding for women, especially older women and caregivers?
- What innovative funding mechanisms can provide sustainable support for researchers?
About 45% of attendees came from STEM fields, with others from disciplines like Business, Governance, and Education. Almost 70% or attendees were unsuccessful in their application for funding, that translates into approximately the same proportion being self-funded, with some receiving partial funding. A significant portion of participants identified as ‘older women’ (50+).
A number of the attendees noted that available scholarship funds have no provision for travel with family or a caregiver. This aspect probably resonated with the participants because many women have unavoidable family obligations that cannot be delegated or put on hold during their studies. Without support for dependent care and family travel, they face major barriers.
It was also noted that available funds tend to target younger academics/researchers, often below the age of 50, creating a barrier for those in this age group. To underscore this point, I mentioned that I recently applied for a sponsored online course on artificial intelligence, and the only point that disqualified me was my age. The participants recommended that funding bodies should consider expanding or removing any age caps in their terms and conditions.
Other barriers to accessing funding discussed include: a skill and experience gap in grant application, a precondition of a previous successful grant application for some grants, some funders providing only partial funding and a need women-specific funding.
One participant, a Mawazo scholarship awardee, told her story of how she had to reject several scholarships because they only provided partial funding, and only accepted a fourth because time was running out on her PhD program. She later successfully won a Mawazo scholarship that closed the funding gap for her.
Another participant noted her country was often excluded from eligibility for the limited scholarships available.
Even after securing funding, some women researchers face challenges with visa applications.In summary, what our participants want concerning the yawning funding gap for women in academics include:
- more funding bodies specific to women
- funding with provision for travel with family/caregiver
- improved inclusion of older women in academia
- ease of applications for study visas
- funding that considers and covers the entire period of study amongst others.
Research mobility for women
Dr. Nafisa presented the published report by INASP and co-facilitated the 'Research Mobility' breakout room. Here are her thoughts:
As an INASP representative and Rising Scholars steward, I was delighted to participate in this event to reflect on critical research findings and stimulate dialogue and engagement between a diverse mix of academics, researchers, advocates, and practitioners whose expertise and insights contributed to empowering women in African research.
I presented the published report by INASP on collected data from almost 8,000 early career researchers with a gender lens to better understand their perceptions of their work and their research environment. It highlighted and summarised the key messages focusing on several pivotal points:
- The report, a second iteration of the 2020 study, included 70% respondents from Sub-Saharan Africa and 42% women.
- In knowledge production, there were fewer women than men in all domains of publishing research, believing they have sufficient collaborative opportunities, have conducted collaborative research domestically or internationally, or have sufficient opportunities to present and promote their research. The differences in all domains range between 5-20% lower than that in men. Women often cited lack of time and resources as barriers to collaboration, as reflected in a Kenyan researcher’s comment: 'This has been my experience juggling a research career with family obligations, as the burden of time falls more on me than my spouse.'
- With the experience of being in the research and knowledge system, women are twice as likely to believe that women in research get fewer opportunities and are less likely to feel that their work is recognised. In addition, they are more likely to have experienced discrimination at their job because of their gender. Academic systems often reflect male-dominated structures, as noted by a Nigerian researcher: 'I would create an enabling environment for young researchers to collaborate regardless of gender, ethnicity, or affiliations.'
These findings sparked interest and set the stage for subsequent discussions. Following the presentation, the participants were divided into smaller groups for roundtable discussions, each focusing on a specific thematic area. These sessions were highly interactive and brought diverse perspectives to the table. In my research mobility breakout room, the main facilitator led a good conversation.
While I co-facilitated the research mobility group, other groups, such as 'Academic Support' and 'Everyday Gendered Experiences,' also had productive discussions. Our research mobility group focused on three domains: collaboration, and gender and age disparities.I was impressed with the participants' interaction and engagement, where they actively shared their experiences and insights of the questions that were shared by the facilitator, including but not restricted to:
Mobility
How can we increase opportunities for African PhD students to study and collaborate intra-continentally, considering that 79% are currently studying in their home countries?
The participants revealed that in-country relationships between institutions and with institutions outside countries are core points for increasing PhD students' opportunities and travelling abroad.
Collaboration:
What specific initiatives can be implemented to reduce the high impact of collaboration challenges reported by 40% of respondents in the age groups 35-39 years and 45-49 years?
We all reflected that there should be strong collaboration between countries and institutions, and social and cultural exchanges and communities of practices for researchers can be established to overcome common challenges.
Gender and Age Disparities
How can institutions and research funders better support researchers who are caregivers in balancing their responsibilities and improving their collaboration opportunities? Does economic support provide for caregivers?
One of the most insightful points raised by the participants was the need for financial support, such as grants and scholarships for all educational levels, policies, and changing community mindsets to enable women's mobility. They also found that social networks are essential for leveraging women's benefits.
Participants suggested strategies from Africa and beyond to address these challenges. It can be seen that short-term fellowships and long-term fellowships are better for mothers who have other family responsibilities. Researchers should also adopt a growth mindset that allows them to move beyond their culture. Partnerships with other universities in and outside Africa play a big role in South Africa.
Several outcomes of the event came from both organisations' findings, including identifying new collaborative opportunities and a shared commitment to address the challenges highlighted in the reports. These discussions' long-term impact is expected to influence policy and research practice positively. There are plans for follow-up actions, including additional collaborative events and initiatives to support the researchers.
In conclusion, I felt a deep sense of responsibility by presenting INASP and my community on such a great event and platform, which was an empowering opportunity to highlight the contributions. It is not just me - I believe this experience reaffirms the importance of diverse representations in academic forums. The insights and discussions I gained will undoubtedly contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance the impact of academic research. I encourage readers to engage with the findings, participate in future events, and support initiatives that promote research and collaboration.