Gender and the scissors graph of brazilian science

Women are underrepresented in science and their participation decreases as their career progresses; an international phenomenon clearly displayed in a scissors graph. This decrease is usually attributed to maternity, a lower number of publications, and less ability to receive grants. Here we present a comprehensive study of the Brazilian science and technology system, covering 8,877,626 people, and analyzing the participation of women from the undergraduate to ministerial levels. The study used different data-bases to develop relevant indicators of the participation of women, some of them over a period of 15 years. Our results suggest that the decrease of women as their career advances is due to a combination of barriers that need to be faced and eliminated to promote equity for better science.