This is not meant as a wet blanket, as I encourage family friendly employment practices for all countries and for all occupations. But, I wonder how those figures would look if all areas of science were considered? It may be that smaller economies, and the Scandinavian countries in particular, put a greater fraction of their available resources for scientific research into ecology than do larger economies and non-Scandinavian countries. Is U.S. science more diversified than Finnish or Icelandic science?
David McNeely ---- Andres Lopez-Sepulcre <lopezsepul...@gmail.com> wrote: > Since we're at it, it did the same calculation for all four countries > ranked first in gender equality by the Global Gender Gap Report. All > four, as far as I remember, provide generous paternity leaves that > guarantee job security and can be shared between mother and father. > > ISI indexed publications in Ecology per capita (countries ranked in > order of 'gender equality index') > Iceland: 1167 > Norway: 1794 > Finland: 1500 > Sweden: 1361 > > Not only do these countries do significantly better in ecology 'per > capita' than the less family-oriented scientific powerhouses (e.g. > USA: 650, UK: 660), but it almost seems that if anything, their > ranking in the gender equality index is correlated with their > productivity, not an 'impediment' ... safe for Iceland, but do > remember that Iceland suffered the largest financial collapse in world > history in these last 5 years. > > Even when this small sample and oversimplified analysis is not proof > of anything, I hope it can change peoples' perceptions that countries > that have increased social welfare, gender equality and more > protective labour laws are less productive. > > > > Andres Lopez-Sepulcre > Laboratoire d'Ecologie, UMR 7625 > Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris > alo...@biologie.ens.fr > > http://web.me.com/asepulcre > > > > > > > > > On Apr 27, 2012, at 6:43 PM, Cecilia Hennessy wrote: > > > PERFECT response, thank you so much! If we Americans could stop > > patting ourselves on the back long enough to realize that other > > countries have successful ways of doing things too, maybe we could > > learn from international example and progress more efficiently. > > cheers! > > > > On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Andres Lopez-Sepulcre > > <lopezsepul...@gmail.com > > > wrote: > > "...however, why should the USA modify the system producing among > > the best and most successful scientists in the world..." > > > > I would simply like to add a quick clarification. I struggled with > > how to respond to this US-centric statement. There is no doubt that > > the USA is a scientific powerhouse and I have wonderful things to > > say about my experience as a scientist there, which has brought me > > wonderful collaborations I hope last long. However I am not sure it > > is fair to compare a country of over 300 million inhabitants with > > another of 5 (Finland). In fact, I took the liberty do do a quick > > search in Web of Science for articles in the area of 'Environmental > > Sciences and Ecology' for both countries in the last 5 years. USA > > showed 204,414 in front of 8,119 Finnish articles indexed in ISI. If > > one thinks 'per capita', the USA has produced 650 indexed articles > > in ecology per million inhabitants, while Finland has produced > > 1,500. With this I do not mean to say that Finland is better or > > worse... but just to show that, when the comparison is done > > 'fairly', maternity leaves do not seem to be hampering Finnish > > ecology. Productivity can be achieved without equality and social > > welfare suffering. > > > > > > > > > > > > Andres Lopez-Sepulcre > > Laboratoire d'Ecologie, UMR 7625 > > Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris > > alo...@biologie.ens.fr > > > > http://web.me.com/asepulcre > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Apr 12, 2012, at 6:52 PM, Amanda Quillen wrote: > > > > "...however, why should the USA modify the system producing among > > the best and most successful scientists in the world..." > > > > > > > > -- > > Cecilia A. Hennessy > > PhD Candidate > > Purdue University > > 715 W. State St > > Pfendler Hall, G004 > > West Lafayette, IN 47907-2061 > > lab: 765-496-6868 > > cell: 574-808-9696 -- David McNeely
