The Beijing Declaration: 30 years of progress

With efforts towards gender equality stalling, voting in a first female head of the UN would provide powerful representation for half the world’s population — and be good for all of it.

Researchers are exploring how to prolong ovarian life and revisiting hormone replacement therapy — a once routine treatment that has fallen out of favour.

Study in mice and human cadavers hints that a brain-protective gene in the chromosome becomes more active with age.

Nature is proud to be associated with a new award for women in technology. The world needs more prizes for exceptional researchers and innovators.

The work of addressing the inequities in science must not fall just on those most affected.

This journal will double down on efforts to diversify the pool of corresponding authors and referees.

Professor Sabine Oertelt-Prigione has been working in the field of sex and gender-sensitive research for the last 15 years. Her current work is focused on trying to understand how sex and gender-sensitive medicine can be successfully implemented in research and practice as well as methods to investigate gender in medical research. Dr. Brandon Turner is a resident physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has conducted and is involved in numerous studies looking to evaluate race and ethnicity reporting and representation in clinical trials. In this interview for Nature Communications, Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, and Brandon Turner share their knowledge about the biases that can occur in clinical trials and how they can be minimized.

Dr Cristina Villalobos — Myles and Sylvia Aaronson endowed professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), Director of the Center of Excellence in STEM Education, and Fellow of the American Mathematical Society — talks to Nature Computational Science about her work on empowering underrepresented groups in STEM education and gives her insights into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) related to equitable education and gender equality.

POWERful Women is a professional initiative established in 2014 targeting a gender-balanced, diverse and inclusive energy sector in the UK. To mark the tenth anniversary, Katie Jackson — Chair of POWERful Women — talks to Nature Energy about progress so far and the challenges ahead.

There are strong bidirectional links between access to energy services and women’s empowerment, but they are often overlooked in the literature. This Review examines these connections as they are discussed in theoretical and empirical work, identifying gaps in knowledge and approaches to the relationships between gender and energy.

Long-term immersive fieldwork provides vital experiences and insights to advance energy access research in developing countries, argues Katharina Oemmelen.

Sex steroid hormones are powerful neuromodulators of learning and memory. A new study in humans links rhythmic oscillations in ovarian hormone levels to changes in medial temporal lobe morphology.

Women’s health has long been overlooked in both fundamental and clinical research, which, sadly, also holds true for the bioengineering field — albeit things are slowly changing.

Women’s health research has long been underfunded, in part owing to stigmas associated with conditions that primarily affect women. Equitable health research funding requires transparency from funding agencies, investment in women-centred innovations, support for women in science and a cultural shift in how health issues are viewed.

The health and non-health impacts of water collection and other water-related work should be monitored and considered in policies and programs to improve women’s lives.

Women are underrepresented at all levels in the formal water workforce, yet overrepresented in the unpaid work of managing water, sanitation and hygiene resources at the household level.

In times of growing insecurity and pushbacks against gender equality, we honour International Women’s Day and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

A Nature Index data set shows which countries, institutions and topic areas are making the greatest progress towards gender equity in research.

Conditions that affect women more than men garner less funding. But boosting investment could reap big rewards.

The United Nations has ambitious aims to end poverty and clean up the planet by 2030. See whether you know how the world is faring on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Documentation of women’s inclusion in Indian academia and conferences by BiasWatchIndia reveals the scale of underrepresentation of women across science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Preclinical models are central to aging research. Yet, these models often lack key features of female humans. Here, the authors discuss shortcomings in the study of female aging and share opportunities for closing the gap in our understanding of sex-dependent aging trajectories.

Analysis of the association between Altmetric scores and the gender of first and last authors of articles published in top cardiovascular research journals shows that women receive on average less attention for their work.

Studies have identified sex and/or gender differences in Alzheimer’s disease, but few have examined other dementias. We highlight sex and gender differences in other dementias, discuss sociocultural factors and provide a framework for future global studies.

This Perspective highlights links between gender inequality and climate change adaptation and mitigation, and proposes a roadmap for incorporating gender issues into the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. These scenarios could help understand challenges under diverse trajectories of gender equality.

The U. S. National Institutes of Health is committed to addressing gender discrimination and fostering inclusive excellence, which is critical for the advancement of creativity and innovation in science. Strategies and processes aimed at achieving these goals are discussed.

Diversity is a creative force that broadens views and enhances ideas; it increases productivity as well as the impact of our science, making our respective organisations more agile and timely. Equality of opportunity is a key to success for any research organisation. Here we argue that every research organisation, whether in academia or in industry, needs to have better inclusion policies to harness the benefits of diversity in research. Drawing from our personal experiences and perspectives as women in science, we share our suggestions on how to promote inclusion in academia and create a better research culture for all. Our shared experiences highlight the many hurdles women in science face on a daily basis. We stress that rules and regulations, as well as education for awareness, will play critical role in this much needed shift from a male-dominated scientific culture that dates from Victorian times to a modern focus on gender equality in science. The key ingredients of this new culture will be flexibility, transparency, fairness and thoughtfulness.

The widespread availability of digital traces capturing individuals’ daily mobility has the potential to enrich the understanding of the relationship between mobility, gender and socioeconomic factors. In fact, it has led to a heightened interest in deriving policy insights from these data. However, it is also essential to put the focus on methodological aspects to address the data gaps and biases.

There are strong bidirectional links between access to energy services and women’s empowerment, but they are often overlooked in the literature. This Review examines these connections as they are discussed in theoretical and empirical work, identifying gaps in knowledge and approaches to the relationships between gender and energy.

The links between food systems and gender-based violence (GBV) remain largely neglected in research and policy. Building on the analysis of GBV and systematic inequalities within food systems, as well as how specific food system contexts shape GBV risk, this Perspective proposes a five-point collaborative agenda to address GBV in food systems.

Fisheries and aquaculture production are key to livelihoods, food and nutrition, yet over one-third of global aquatic harvest is lost or wasted. The post-harvest sector, key to reducing these losses, and dominated by women workers, is not well understood. This systematic review synthesizes evidence on equity and equality outcomes of post-harvest practices and technologies that aim to reduce loss and waste in the fisheries sector.

Engaging with people’s realities is key to the success of policies and interventions aimed at achieving better diets for all. Drawing on social practice theory, this Perspective proposes a tool—the full picture—to help researchers, practitioners and policymakers think through the full range of people’s interacting realities that shape the impact of policies and interventions designed to improve diets.

This Perspective discusses how gender disparities affect women’s brain health in the global south and proposes strategies to improve brain health outcomes by incorporating sex and gender considerations in research, policy and clinical practice and using the patient and public involvement framework.

We launched the ENIGMA-Neuroendocrinology working group with the aim to address knowledge gaps about the role of sex hormones in the brain, which lead to prevalent sex- and gender-based health disparities in biomedical research. We approach this by adopting a lifespan perspective to explore the interplay of hormonal dynamics and mental health in the brain.

Sex and gender play an important role in mental health. Clinical and preclinical research for novel treatments need to take this serious matter under consideration. The development of safe and effective treatments for specific populations can be achieved only with enhanced and targeted funding that will generate robust and reliable data.

This Review discusses the key factors that comprise the mental load of motherhood and the need to provide support for a healthy transition to motherhood.

In this Review, Hodes and Kropp discuss the lessons we have learned from using sex as a biological variable in stress and mood disorder research and how we should shape our questions to avoid sex-based disparities in mental health care.

Engaging survivors of intimate partner violence in research brings valuable perspectives that can drive meaningful improvements in mental health services.

At the Gates Foundation, the newly established Women’s Health Innovations team supports the research, development and increased access to innovative products, devices and platforms aimed at improving women’s health. Importantly, women should have a central role in the women’s health innovation ecosystem, leading research, shaping strategies and making funding decisions.

Therapeutic nanoparticle and biomaterial systems can be specifically designed to deliver drugs for the treatment of women’s health-related conditions. This Review discusses the engineering and optimization of delivery technologies for women’s health applications, including vaginal infections, reproductive tract disorders, pregnancy conditions and congenital disorders.

The FDA Modernization Act 2.0 allows bioengineered models in drug testing, including benchtop testing and computational models. These alternatives to animal testing may particularly advance drug discovery in reproductive and pregnancy research.

In addition to systemic inequity, the lack of adequate parental leave conditions at many US institutions can negatively affect career trajectories for women in STEM. Support structures are needed at the institutional, departmental and funding agency level to promote the success of pregnant women and parents with childcare responsibilities in academia.

University departments may benefit from guidelines not only to craft effective diversity, equity and inclusion plans, but also to measure progress towards achieving specific goals. This Perspective presents a framework for building, assessing and continuously improving strategic plans to improve recruitment and retention and make departments more inclusive.

Women living with kidney disease are exposed to several sex and gender gaps in the clinical practice of standard hemodialysis treatment. Drawing on lived experience, we offer opportunities for improvement and call on nephrology clinicians and researchers to advance gender equity and improve health outcomes for women.

The advancement of women to leadership positions in nephrology lags behind that of men by several metrics. Proactive, intentional approaches, including mentorship and sponsorship, family-friendly policies, career development in hard and soft skills, combatting bias and use of transparent institutional metrics of women’s advancement, are required to address this disparity.

The importance of incorporating factors related to sex and gender in all aspects of research is increasingly recognized. Kidney disease pathophysiology, presentation, response to therapy and outcomes differ by sex and gender, but these factors are often not considered in basic and clinical studies. It is time for nephrology to catch up.

Inclusive water and climate-related decision-making has never been more critical to supporting the foundations for a peaceful and secure future.

Despite international policies promoting gender equality in water resources management, significant gender disparities persist globally, as women are less likely to be in the labour force than men. Addressing this issue requires closing the gender data gap, beginning with numerically assessing women’s representation in the sector to ensure sustainable and equitable water governance.

The share of women recipients of professional awards in Social and Personality Psychology has increased between 1968 and 2021. Yet, this increase is partially explained by women receiving proportionally more service and teaching awards, whereas research awards are given to men.

The difference between the number of men and women listed as authors on scientific papers and inventors on patents is at least partly attributable to unacknowledged contributions by women scientists.

Hundreds of genetic loci associated with age at menopause, combined with experimental evidence in mice, highlight mechanisms of reproductive ageing across the lifespan.

Water scarcity is becoming increasingly severe under climate change, and women often bear most of the burden of collecting water. This research finds that both temperature rises and reduced precipitation increase women’s daily water collection time, thereby undermining their welfare globally.

The authors show that there is a positive and linear relationship between the probability of intending to pursue math and math performance, and that this relationship is stronger among boys than among girls.

The role of sex differences in response to cancer therapy remains unclear but this could be improved by reporting sex comparisons of outcomes in clinical trials. Here, the authors characterise the sex outcome comparisons in 89,221 interventional trials, finding that while comparisons were rare, important insights could be obtained.

Interventions prioritizing care and knowledge in locally led energy transition initiatives may contribute to the disruption of established gender norms. A new study on the Solar Mamas programme in Zanzibar supports this idea.

Wild foods may contribute to food security through different pathways. Using a monthly interval dataset from two rural districts in India, this study elucidates the impact of wild food consumption from forests and common lands on women’s dietary diversity.

Christia et al. evaluate the delivery of content to empower women exposed to violence amid COVID-19. The recipients exhibited no credible evidence of a shift in attitudes but increased their knowledge and hypothetical and reported use of resources.

Against the backdrop of the world expansion of education and changes in parents’ educational pairing patterns, Hu and Qian provide global evidence on the importance of gender and the mother in intergenerational educational mobility.

In a phased prospective rollout, the implementation of AI as an additional reader for mammography screening improved the real-world early detection of breast cancer compared to standard double reading involving two independent radiologists.

A modelled evaluation of screening and treatment strategies for prevention of cervical cancer in 78 low- and lower-middle-income countries provides evidence to support the World Health Organization’s recommendation of primary HPV testing for women in the general population.

A model evaluating cervical screening, triage and treatment strategies to prevent cervical cancer in women living with HIV in Tanzania provides evidence to support the World Health Organization’s recommendation of primary HPV testing starting at age 25 years with 3–5-year regular screening intervals.

In a prespecified 3-year analysis of the KEN SHE trial, single-dose HPV vaccination was shown to be well tolerated and provided durable protection against cervical HPV infection in Kenyan women aged 15–20 years.

A meta-analysis using the burden of proof risk function identified consistent evidence supporting harmful associations between the exposure to intimate partner violence against women and childhood sexual abuse on health outcomes.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with daily antiretrovirals to prevent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 acquisition has not been shown to be consistently effective in cisgender women. Modeling adherence to daily PrEP clarifies how robust protection can be achieved.

Modeling shows that antiretroviral treatment as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can be highly effective in cisgender women at preventing HIV-1 acquisition, but underscores the need to understand the barriers that limit PrEP adherence in women.

Analysis using a combination of molecular and genetic epidemiological approaches reveals an interaction between female sex and the genetic variant PNPLA3 p.I148M that might explain why some women have increased susceptibility to fatty liver disease after onset of menopause.

In cohorts of 498 pregnant women, methylation profiles from cell-free DNA, in addition to clinical risk factors, improved the early prediction of preeclampsia.

In a pooled analysis of six international studies involving about 17,900 female survivors of childhood cancer, the use of doxorubicin was associated with a dose-dependent risk of subsequent breast cancer, irrespective of prior chest radiotherapy exposure.

Analyses from the Global Maternal Health microsimulation model revealed that a comprehensive strategy involving family planning and community-based interventions would have the largest impact in reducing maternal mortality, although the priority of different interventions need to vary by setting.

Phase 1 trial results demonstrate that psilocybin in conjunction with psychological support is safe, tolerable and deemed acceptable and therapeutically meaningful by female individuals with anorexia nervosa.

In a new study including 200 families who experienced perinatal death, adding genomic analyses to standard autopsies improved the identification of underlying pathogenic causes and informed genetic counseling.

To evaluate the effects of implementing the WHO Labour Care Guide on cesarean section rates, as compared to routine intrapartum care, a pilot trial conducted in India generated preliminary evidence around the effectiveness of the strategy that can inform larger definitive trials.

Interim analysis of the SHIELD program, adopting multilevel interventions, showcases low mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) across different hospital and community settings in China.

In a prospective study across US states where abortion remains legal, telehealth medication abortion, provided primarily without tests, was effective, safe and comparable to previous findings from large US studies investigating in-person medication abortion care.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies covering 66 countries reported wide-ranging maternal, fetal and neonatal health harms associated with heat exposure, including increased risks of preterm birth, stillbirths, obstetric complications, congenital anomalies and gestational diabetes.

Data collected from 138,015 hospital-based singleton births in four sub-Saharan African countries revealed an association between heat exposure in the week leading up to the birth and perinatal mortality.

In a comprehensive dataset from 3,652 patients across 20 centers in eight countries, an ultrasound-based AI model shows robust performance across centers, ultrasound systems, 58 histological diagnoses and patient age groups and reduced referral to experts by 63% in a retrospective triage simulation.

In this analysis of data from the Healthy Minds Study of over 200,000 college students in the United States, the authors found greater levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and sexual violence and assaults experienced by gender and sexual minorities during the pandemic. These findings reinforce the disproportionate and heightened mental health and sexual violence risks for gender and sexual minority youth and the need to increase on-campus safety and crisis intervention.

In this study, the authors analyzed articles examining the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning analytics for identifying sociodemographic disparities, such as in race/ethnicity and age, to make recommendations for improving models and generalizability.

In this longitudinal ultra-high field neuroimaging study, Zsido et al. show the shared dynamics between the ovarian hormone fluctuations across the menstrual cycle and structural plasticity within the medial temporal lobe.

A magnetoencephalography study provides evidence that neural signal complexity declines with brain maturation in human fetuses and newborns and the decline occurs faster in male fetuses.

This systematic re-review of water, sanitation and hygiene trials found that women play a critical but instrumentalized role in research and intervention activities. Research and interventions need to change to enable, and not hinder, gender equality.

Flood exposure can increase the risk of intimate partner violence. Intra-household and societal gender inequalities can further exacerbate this vulnerability.