%0 Journal Article
%T Hypatia and the Leopold standard: Women in the wildlife profession 1937-2006
%A K. Nicholson
%A P. Krausman
%A J. Merkle
%J Wildlife Biology in Practice
%D 2008
%I Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem
%X Throughout history, the science of wildlife biology and the profession of wildlife management have been dominated by men. In the early part of the 20th century there were few women wildlife biologists and they were typically junior collaborators or assistants. We quantified the evolving roles women have in The Wildlife Society (TWS) by documenting their contributions to the Journal of Wildlife Management (JWM), the Wildlife Society Bulletin (WSB), and Wildlife Monographs (WM) from the origin of TWS (the international professional society for wildlife biologists) in 1937 through 2006. Data were collected from peer-reviewed publications, participation in TWS (i.e., membership, meeting attendees, committee members, and officers), journal editors, awards, and honorary membership. While women played a minor role in TWS in 1937, their contributions have steadily increased through the years. However, publications by women have not represented their membership in TWS. Only 18% of 11,363 TWS journal articles from 1937-2006 have female contributors. In 1937, 1 of 12 JWM articles had a female author. By 2006 that contribution increased to 45%. It was not until the early 1980s that contributions by females accelerated. In 1944 2% of TWS members were women; by 2006 22% were women. Out of 488 TWS awards since 1937, 5% have been presented to women. One female was president of the society, but none has served as editor-in-chief. Three women have received an honorary membership, and 2 of the 54 recipients of the Aldo Leopold Award, the most prestigious award given by TWS, have been women. Because 22% of TWS memberships were women in 2006 they need to be encouraged to accept leadership roles in TWS. With changing demographics and 50-75% of natural resource professionals retiring by 2015, women will have important new opportunities to shape the direction and progress of wildlife management.
%K contribution
%K female
%K history
%K minority
%K The Wildlife Society
%U http://socpvs.org/journals/index.php/wbp/article/view/10.2461-wbp.2008.4.6