Comment on “Sexism in Academia is Bad for Science and a Waste of Public Funding”

Abstract

A recent comment by Boivin et al. urges academia and governments to address sexism and fight bias at higher education and research institutions as losing female academics is costing science and society too much. Herein, I discuss further underlying reasons of sexism in academia and the importance of a deep dive into the causes of inequity at individual faculty and school levels to develop bespoke and enforceable gender equity plans, the importance of not using basic statistic as the only tool to measure equity/inequity as well as how key performance indicators could be better used to advance gender equity and end sexism in academia.