Chilean women scientists in the university labour market
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/pe.2025.19.5677Keywords:
Academic labour market, gender, scientific community, academic careerAbstract
This article examines the position of Chilean women scientists within the university labour market, drawing on a survey administered to recipients of FONDECYT research grants (2015–2020). The findings, in dialogue with the specialized literature, reveal progress in women’s participation in the scientific system, reflected in high levels of academic qualification, solid institutional integration, and upward social mobility. Although a significant proportion of these researchers come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, many have gained access to highly competitive academic careers, including positions of institutional responsibility. Most hold doctoral training abroad or in highly reputed national universities, strengthening their academic capital and professional projection. In terms of income, the results show relative gender parity; however, the data support the formulation of a mechanistic hypothesis to account for persistent differences at the upper segments of the remuneration scale. The study also identifies enduring gaps in positions of power and leadership, where “glass ceiling” dynamics restrict women’s access to senior management roles, together with a territorial dimension of inequality reflected in the concentration of women scientists in the Metropolitan Region, giving rise to an intersectionality. Overall, the landscape is ambivalent: democratizing advances in access and training coexist with persistent inequalities within the institutional structure of the academic labour market.
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