Making Equity Actionable in Earth Sciences: Aligning Group-Level Initiatives and Institutional Support

STEM disciplines remain predominantly male, with a persistent underrepresentation of women throughout academic career paths and in leadership positions, and the geosciences are no exception. According to the She Figures 2025 report, while the proportion of women among doctoral graduates in Earth sciences disciplines has increased, their representation progressively declines at the postdoctoral stage, in access to permanent positions, and in decision-making roles. This pattern reflects the well-documented leaky pipeline phenomenon within geosciences. This attrition does not arise from a lack of talent or vocation, but from the cumulative impact of structural barriers that shape women’s professional trajectories in science.

The experience presented here is situated within the Earth Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), with a specific focus on the Climate Variability and Change (CVC) group. A group-driven initiative emerged within the climate group to identify and address gender-related obstacles affecting career development. Through a structured, top-down diagnostic process conducted within the institutional framework, group-specific challenges were identified, including explicit and implicit gender biases, inequities in evaluation and promotion processes, and the disproportionate burden of unrecognized service and care-related tasks (academic housekeeping). We present the different measures taken to address these issues and evaluate their impact based on changes in group dynamics, recognition of the work of women employees, and increased awareness of existing gender-related problems amongst all members of the group.

This action is embedded in and strongly supported by Equity4ES, the equity initiative of the Earth Sciences Department, which provides a collective, bottom-up space for awareness-raising, dialogue, and action on equity and inclusion in scientific environments. Crucially, the Institutional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Unit at BSC has proven to be a real asset in this process, providing continuity, institutional backing, and the capacity to translate local diagnoses and grassroots initiatives into concrete policy actions, notably through the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Plan. The experience is structured around three complementary levels of action: (i) group-level initiatives within the CVC group, (ii) departmental bottom-up engagement through Equity4ES, and (iii) institutional framing and policy support provided by the permanent EDI Unit at BSC, highlighting the importance of synergies between all.