For men only? Lack of women winners for million-euro science prize draws protests

Article here. Excerpt:

'At a June ceremony in the scenic Swiss village of Villars, three scientists each collected a huge new prize: 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) to invest in their research to safeguard the planet against various environmental tipping points. The prizes were courtesy of the Frontiers Research Foundation (FRF), the nonprofit parent of the big open-access publisher. Younger women scientists who co-authored winning papers accompanied their colleagues onto the stage, smiling uncomfortably: All the winners of this year’s Frontiers Planet Prize (FPP), with a cash award bigger than the Nobel Prize, were men, just as they were last year.
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“I grew frustrated during the ceremony when one award after another went to a man,” says Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, an earth systems scientist at the University of Zürich and a 2024 finalist. Within days, Schaepman-Strub spearheaded a letter to FPP Director Jean-Claude Burgelman and other higher-ups at FRF. It was signed by five of this year’s seven women finalists. “The situation experienced last week was a real setback for gender equality and diversity,” they wrote. “Providing only male colleagues with a substantial grant cements the gender inequality that many universities are fighting against.”
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Schaepman-Strub blames the structure of the prize. “For me, the main message really is: How can we contribute to improving this prize so it’s really contributing towards a just transformation” in terms of both gender and geography? She and others note although nine of the 43 finalists have been women, just two have come from Africa—both from South Africa—and very few from other countries of the Global South. The foundation is working to boost African representation, says Lise Korsten, president of the African Academy of Sciences, which signed an agreement with FRF to expand the pool of African nominees. “Our aim is to reach out to every single country on the African continent,” Korsten says.'