1887

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY logo

Volume 73, Issue 11

The gender gap in names of prokaryotes honouring persons Open Access

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse prokaryotic names which honour persons, eponyms, from a gender perspective. Data were retrieved from the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature. Excluding new combinations, the etymologies of 23 315 unique names at the rank of genus, species and subspecies were analysed. A total of 2018 (8.7 %) names honour persons (eponyms), for which the development of the female share over time was further investigated. Women started to be honoured very recently (1947) compared to men (1823). Moreover, only 14.8 % of all prokaryotic eponyms refer to females. This ratio has hardly improved since 1947, although the number of women whose contributions to microbiology could have been recognized has increased over time. In contrast, about 50 % of prokaryotic names derived from mythological characters refer to females. To reduce this gender gap, we encourage authors proposing new taxon names to honour female scientists who can serve as role models for new generations.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): etymology , fairness , gender equality , ICNP , ICSP and taxonomy
© 2023 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115
2023-11-01
2024-04-30
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/ijsem/73/11/ijsem006115.html?itemId=/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Breaking the bias in microbiology. Nat Microbiol 2022; 7:341–342 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  2. United Nations The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals: An Opportunity for Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/G. 2681-P/Rev. 3) Santiago: 2018
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Figueiredo E, Smith GF. What’s in a name: epithets in Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae) and what to call the next new species. Bradleya 2010; 28:79–102 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Poulin R, McDougall C, Presswell B. What’s in a name? Taxonomic and gender biases in the etymology of new species names. Proc R Soc B 2022; 289:20212708 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Oren A, Arahal DR, Göker M, Moore ERB, Rossello-Mora R et al. International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes. Prokaryotic Code (2022 Revision). Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73:5585 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Göker M, Moore ERB, Oren A, Trujillo ME. Status of the Seqcode in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5754 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Tindall BJ, Kämpfer P, Euzéby JP, Oren A. Valid publication of names of prokaryotes according to the rules of nomenclature: past history and current practice. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2006; 56:2715–2720 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Skerman VBD, McGowan V, Sneath PHA. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 1980; 30:225–420 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Pallen MJ, Telatin A, Oren A. The next million names for Archaea and Bacteria. Trends Microbiol 2021; 29:289–298 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Oren A, Chuvochina M, Ventura S. Formation of compound generic names based on personal names: a proposal for emendation of Appendix 9 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2019; 69:594–596 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Parte AC, Sardà Carbasse J, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Reimer LC, Göker M. List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) moves to the DSMZ. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020; 70:5607–5612 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Ceci SJ, Williams WM. Why Aren’t More Women in Science?: Top Researchers Debate the Evidence Washington: American Psychological Association; 2007
     [Google Scholar]
  13. World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report (World Economic Forum); 2022 https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/
  14. Göker M. Solving the remaining problems with names of classes. Request for an Opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5605 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Turland N, Wiersema J, Barrie F, Greuter W, Hawksworth D et al. International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants Koeltz Botanical Books; 2018 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Oren A, Arahal DR, Rosselló-Móra R, Sutcliffe IC, Moore ERB. Emendation of General Consideration 5 and Rules 18a, 24a and 30 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes to resolve the status of the Cyanobacteria in the prokaryotic nomenclature. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2021; 71:4939 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  17. R Core Team R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2022
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Crawley MJ. The R Book Wiley; 2007 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Malnick H. Anaerobiospirillum thomasii sp. nov., an anaerobic spiral bacterium isolated from the feces of cats and dogs and from diarrheal feces of humans, and emendation of the genus Anaerobiospirillum. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1997; 47:381–384 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Prakash O, Gihring TM, Dalton DD, Chin K-J, Green SJ et al. Geobacter daltonii sp. nov., an Fe(III)- and uranium(VI)-reducing bacterium isolated from a shallow subsurface exposed to mixed heavy metal and hydrocarbon contamination. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2010; 60:546–553 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Lee SD, Kim S-M, Yang HL, Byeon Y-S, Kim IS. Hongsoonwoonella zoysiae gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the family Stappiaceae isolated from a tidal mudflat. Arch Microbiol 2021; 203:1335–1343 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Jackman PJH, Pitcher DG, Pelczynska S, Borman P. Classification of corynebacteria associated with endocarditis. Syst Appl Microbiol 1987; 9:83–90 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Koeck DE, Hahnke S, Zverlov VV. Herbinix luporum sp. nov., a thermophilic cellulose-degrading bacterium isolated from a thermophilic biogas reactor. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2016; 66:4132–4137 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Stanier RY. Studies on nonfruiting myxobacteria: I. Cytophaga johnsonae, n.sp., a chitin-decomposing myxobacterium. J Bacteriol 1947; 53:297–315 [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Bizio B. Lettera di Bartolomeo Bizio al chiarissimo canonico Angelo Bellani sopra il fenomeno della polenta porporina. Biblioteca Italiana o sia Giornale di Letteratura, Scienze e Arti (Anno VIII) 1823; 30:275–295
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Jagielski T. A man with a prepared mind - in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Pasteur 1822-2022. Clin Microbiol Infect 2023; 29:138–140 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Oren A. Hans Georg Trüper (1936-2016) and his contributions to halophile research. Life 2016; 6:19 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Xu J. The life and work of Dr. Fan Qingsheng: a pioneer in antibiotics research, agricultural microbiology, systems agriculture, and agricultural education in China. Protein Cell 2017; 8:551–557 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Oren A. Prokaryotic names: the bold and the beautiful. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2020; 367:fnaa096 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Schleifer KH. Classification of Bacteria and Archaea: past, present and future. Syst Appl Microbiol 2009; 32:533–542 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Klenk H-P, Göker M. En route to a genome-based classification of Archaea and Bacteria?. Syst Appl Microbiol 2010; 33:175–182 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Oren A, Garrity GM. Then and now: a systematic review of the systematics of prokaryotes in the last 80 years. Ant Leeuw 2014; 106:43–56 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Zhu C, Delmont TO, Vogel TM, Bromberg Y. Functional basis of microorganism classification. PLoS Comput Biol 2015; 11:e1004472 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Chun J, Oren A, Ventosa A, Christensen H, Arahal DR et al. Proposed minimal standards for the use of genome data for the taxonomy of prokaryotes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2018; 68:461–466 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Ash AS, Carr PL, Goldstein R, Friedman RH. Compensation and advancement of women in academic medicine: is there equity?. Ann Intern Med 2004; 141:205–212 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Jagsi R, Griffith KA, Stewart A, Sambuco D, DeCastro R et al. Gender differences in salary in a recent cohort of early-career physician-researchers. Acad Med 2013; 88:1689–1699 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Carr PL, Helitzer D, Freund K, Westring A, McGee R et al. A summary report from the research partnership on women in science careers. J Gen Intern Med 2019; 34:356–362 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Holman L, Stuart-Fox D, Hauser CE. The gender gap in science: how long until women are equally represented?. PLoS Biol 2018; 16:e2004956 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Baxter BK, Gunde-Cimerman N, Oren A. Salty sisters: the women of halophiles. Front Microbiol 2014; 5:192 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Whitaker RJ, Barton HB. Women in Microbiology ASM Press; 2018 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Borrego JJ, Llamas I. Las microbiólogas y la filatelia (I). Pioneras olvidadas. SEM@foro 2018; 65:9–11 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Borrego JJ, Llamas I. Las microbiólogas y la filatelia (II). El reconocimiento. SEM@foro 2018; 66:16–19 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Kashani M. 10 women microbiologists you don’t know about, but should; 2020 https://www.internationalmicroorganismday.org accessed 28 February 2023
  44. Chaudhary VB. A scientist by any other name. Nat Microbiol 2022; 7:351 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Valetas MF. The surname of married women in the European Union. Population 2001; 367:1–4
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Carrell S, Sacerdote B. Why do college-going interventions work?. Am Econ J: Appl Econ 2017; 9:124–151 [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Barr A, Castleman B. An Engine of Economic Opportunity: Intensive Advising, College Success, and Social Mobility Texas A&M Working Paper; 2018
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Canaan S, Mouganie P. Female science advisors and the STEM gender gap. SSRN J 2019; 3396119: [View Article]
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Moghe S, Baumgart K, Shaffer JJ, Carlson KA, Castro-Alonso JC. Female mentors positively contribute to undergraduate STEM research experiences. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0260646 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Trisos CH, Auerbach J, Katti M. Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:1205–1212 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Guedes P, Alves-Martins F, Arribas JM, Chatterjee S, Santos AMC et al. Eponyms have no place in 21st-century biological nomenclature. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1157–1160 [View Article] [PubMed]
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115
Loading
The gender gap in names of prokaryotes honouring persons
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 73, 006115 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115
/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115
/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006115
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Supplements

Supplementary material 1

PDF

Most cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error