Senior academic research positions held by women are proportionately low and women researchers should avoid hiring merely for the sake of gender balance, deliberations at an international women's conference held at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates have revealed.

The two-day “Fourth Forum of Women in Research" held August 30-31 attracted 571 submissions from 33 countries and numerous influential women researchers.

The annual gathering investigated the state of women researchers and women academics in the world and explored ways to empower women to climb the career ladder in science.

The scientists attending the forum lamented what they said was the low percentage of women researchers in the world in proportion to men.

Globally, women make up 33.3% of researchers (in head counts), according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for 107 countries.

To bring about gender balance, women should not accept hiring merely for the sake of bridging the gender gap.

Dr. Ramla Jarrar, Founder and CEO of Mass Analytics, urged women in the audience only to accept employment on merit and decline calls for employment to dispel pre-conceived gender stereotypes in the research community.

“I say to women, if you are there for a quota to be filled in, it is your responsibility to show the men that you are there to not just fulfill a quota," she said.

Dr. Nadia M. Alhasani, Dean of the College of Fine Arts & Design at the University of Sharjah, said women would rather stay jobless than become a number in efforts to bring about gender equality. “We may need for somebody to open the door for us, but we need to enter at our own merit, and stay at our own merit."

Female representation featured high in the forum with several internationally renowned female scientists attending the event emphasizing the need for gender balance in scientific research.

“Having more female viewpoints and scientific perspectives enhances the quality of research," said Iman Ben Chaibah, Head of Community Engagement at Sheraa.

She cited a Boston Consulting Group report, that shows that women's equal participation as entrepreneurs could boost the economy by up to $5 trillion.

Dr. Jackie Yi-Ru Ying, Executive Director at Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, was the first female Asian professor to teach Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

She said the “sad reality" of being part of a minority group and a woman was that she felt the need to prove herself and work harder.

“It was very clear from the beginning, I had to work twice as hard, if not harder," she added.

Dr. Fouzia Jabeen, Professor of Management at Abu Dhabi University, said that men are more productive at research than women because they often don't have to juggle between work, research, and family responsibilities.

Among the topics generating wide interest was the issue of university ranking and how academics are currently more focused on quantity of research papers they produce rather than quality in order to secure top spots for their institutions in global ranking.

Similarly, Dr. Ying criticized universities for intensive focus on rankings and number of research papers instead of thinking of the potential impact, relevance, and practical implications of their research.

“Sometimes you do research, which is a step forward and other times it's a major leap forward," she said.

Dr. Sarah Qureshi, CEO of AeroEngine Craft, said she has always opted for quality rather than quantity when doing research.

Dr. Qureshi, a co-inventor of contrail-free aero-engine for which she holds two international patents, advised women researchers to focus on quality rather than quantity and work hard to earn new patents.

She said there were employment venues other than academia and cited commercialization and entrepreneurship, the two professions where demand for women researchers is high.