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Women in dentistry: How the Kulzer Award can open doors in science
For the first time in 15 years, only female researchers have convinced the jury with their work on dental materials and won the IADR/Kulzer Travel Award for young researchers. Do the female winners show for science what has been a growing trend in studies for years? Is research also becoming more female? A look at the studies shows: Not yet.
The President of the IADR Dental Materials Group, Prof Josette Camilleri, and Dr Janine Schweppe, dentist and Head of Scientific & Clinical Affairs at Kulzer, also observe this in their everyday work. An award such as the Travel Award can therefore be a great opportunity for the budding scientists – it enables them to take part in the world's most important dental congress.
In Germany, the trend has been rising for years – two thirds of students are now women1. The global picture is mostly similar, with the proportion of women in dentistry growing strongly for years, as studies show. However, women are still less likely to be found in teaching and research positions at universities. Compared to graduates, the proportion of women is very low: most faculty members at universities in the countries analysed are male. Except for France, it can be seen that the higher the rank of a position at a university, the lower the proportion of women2. This is also confirmed by a study on the situation regarding dean positions in the USA from 2022: there is one female dean for every five male deans at US dental faculties3.
Gender equality at university? Still a lot to do
Josette Camilleri, President of the IADR Dental Materials Group, confirms this image from her own experience. She herself graduated in dentistry in Malta in 1992 and has been working at the University of Birmingham since 2018, where she researches and teaches: "There are a number of female colleagues. However, I am the first woman to be awarded a clinical professorship in both research and teaching in 2022."
Janine Schweppe, has worked at university herself for a long time and is still in close contact with academia. She observes: "The number of female professors at German universities is increasing. In my time as a research assistant at a German dental faculty over 20 years ago, there was only one woman out of five professors. Today, the situation has already improved overall, but there is still a lot to do before gender-specific differences in research are a thing of the past."
IADR/Kulzer Travel Award an opportunity for more visibility in the professional world
Women are also not yet as well represented as their male colleagues when it comes to scientific publications, as a 2017 study in the USA shows: The most heavily state-funded dental universities in the USA indicate a significantly higher number of publications by men compared to women (34 vs. 20.4)4.
All the more reason why an award such as the IADR/Kulzer Travel Award can help to ensure that the research work of young female scientists receives attention from the professional world. Thanks to the award, which enables the winners to take part in the world's most important dental congress, they can present their work to a wide audience: "Travel sponsorship can help young scientists, regardless of gender, to present their own research findings to a larger specialist audience and thus become more visible in the scientific world," says Janine Schweppe. She and Josette Camilleri hope that the prize sponsored by Kulzer and the recognition it brings will encourage young scientists to do research and go into science. Janine Schweppe: "This can be a great opportunity for women in particular, as our five winners this year prove."
This year’s winner:
Rawan Almulaify, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Rosalind Sin Man Chan, The University of Hong Kong, SAR, China
Sandra Olivia Kuswandani, University College London, England, United Kingdom
Beatriz Ometto Sahadi, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, Brazil
Fernanda Tsuzuki, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
"Women hold back because they are not aware of their strengths"
Dr Janine Schweppe believes that one of the reasons why women are still less represented in the scientific community and less likely to reach high positions is that women are subject to social and cultural expectations that put pressure on them. "This also includes the issue of family and career – an academic career requires a lot of planning, extensive study work, publications and participation in conferences." There is also a lack of female role models in high-ranking research positions, as presidents of scientific societies, as decision-makers for research funding and on the editorial board of scientific journals.
Josette Camilleri also believes that it is partly due to social expectations that women fall short of their potential. But she also wants to encourage young women to dare to do more: "Although the difficulty of balancing family and career is a contributing factor, I believe that the biggest limitation is that talented women hold themselves back because they are not aware of their strengths. They are not challenged enough to progress and make it to the top." She hopes that gender will not be a factor, but that budding scientists will have the confidence to make the most of their abilities. "There will be many stumbling blocks along the way, but every stumbling block will bring important insights."
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1Source: Federal Statistical Office, licensing offices of the federal states, Statistical Yearbook of the German Dental Association quoted from the German Dental Association
2Tiwari T et al: Gender Inequalities in the Dental Workforce: Global Perspectives. Advances in Dental Research. 2019;30(3):60-68
3Bompolaki D, Pokala SV, Koka S. Gender diversity and senior leadership in academic dentistry: Female representation at the dean position in the United States. J Dent Educ. 2022 Apr;86(4):401-405.
4Simon L et al: Gender Differences in Academic Productivity and Advancement Among Dental School Faculty. Journal of Women's Health 28 (10), 2019: 1350-4.
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