Gender Heterophilia and Homophilia in Science Chilean Production

Abstract

The problem of insertion and/or consolidation of women in science has been much studied, with a focus on the percentage of women’s insertion in scientific work. However, the problem of women’s symbolic experience in science has received less empirical treatment. Using an instrument that seeks to understand whether there are patterns of homophilia, that is, to reveal whether people working in science have a tendency to mention others as their referents only if they meet some similar condition to theirs, our results show a clear tendency in scientists to evaluate the influence of others in homophilic fashion. We argue that this intervening factor may be playing a key role in the reproduction of the inequalities and asymmetries constitutive of the Chilean scientific field.