This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter. Considering the current fractured state of political and social discourse across many areas of the globe, it’s more imperative than ever that we strive for a more gender-balanced and inclusive society—none more so than in the world of academia.

Despite over half of all PhDs being awarded to women, the percentage of female tenured faculty hovers between 20% - 33% in the EU and US, and falls to as low as 5% in fields like engineering, demonstrating the difficulty women face moving up in academia.

In the lead up to International Women’s Day on Friday March 8th, we posed a series of questions to leading academics. Here Laura K. Nelson, explores how we nurture an academic landscape that is more accessible to women.