The Changing Face of the Wildlife Profession: Tools for Creating Women Leaders

: Women continue to be underrepresented in the natural resource sciences arena, including the field of wildlife biology. The gender gap widens further with advancement to higher level positions. This paper explores potential reasons behind the lack of women in leadership and the array of challenges that women may face in their career paths. A variety of tools are proposed to support and encourage career advancement for women. Studies show that organizations with higher numbers of women in leadership roles perform better and diverse teams are more dedicated and committed to the mission. Understanding gender issues and generating organizational change is necessary to not only achieve an inclusive and diverse workforce, but one that is more creative and productive. The purpose of this paper is to help mitigate gender bias in the natural resource sciences profession and provide recommendations for transforming the workplace environment.