Women in cancer research.

Abstract

Gender inequality in science is a real issue, and without frank and open discussions leading to positive action it is likely to remain so. In February 2019, Nature Reviews Cancer was kindly invited to be part of a 'Women in Science Mentoring' panel discussion, which took place at the Lorne Cancer Conference in Victoria, Australia. Inspired by the scientific career paths and experiences of the women on the panel, we decided to share their stories with our readers in this Viewpoint article, along with their opinions on how men and women must equally take responsibility for supporting and empowering female scientists. To this end, we hope we might contribute in some small way to highlighting a few of the issues surrounding gender bias in cancer research, as well as science more generally, and show our commitment to ensuring gender diversity within the journal.