Gender inequality in the sciences remains a persistent issue. Most often, women are not able to participate in the scientific process as easily as men. And when they do, this is largely constricted to opportunities at the lower rather than higher ranks of academia, colloquially dubbed the “scissors effect.” These gender disparities have not just been a setback to female scientists but also to scientific and social progress. By directing attention to a prominent national program in Mexico – Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) – we unpack additional heterogeneity across career trajectories and across disciplinary boundaries to gain new insight into these persistent gender disparities in the sciences. Tracing the productivity and promotion activity for 18,799 researchers active in the SNI program from 1991- 2011, we report that female researchers are more productive than males, and yet less likely to attain higher levels of promotional certification as they progress through their career. This disparity has reduced over time as female representation at the higher certification ranks has marginally increased. Drawing from descriptive quantitative data along with qualitative interview insights, we present a novel underexplored mechanism for which to inform future studies and policy – that of evaluative salience.
