Factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of women academics worldwide: A literature review

This paper analyses the literature related to the underrepresentation of women academics in order to identify the factors that influence the underrepresentation of women in higher-education teaching, academic leadership and research. In order to accomplish this, we conducted a review of 83 research articles from 2005 to June 2023 available in the Web of Science database and their references. The results show that the factors that explain underrepresentation of women academics are diverse, complex and intertwined, and related to socio-cultural parameters. The literature review allowed us to create an integrated framework of factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of women academics, which includes six categories: personal, family, educational, social, organizational and labor-economic factors. This research is useful for researchers and policy makers because it introduces this phenomenon schematically and identifies the gaps in previous research studies. It also evidences the need to conduct further research on this topic.