Toxic and hostile working conditions were identified among hurdles preventing women from ascending to marine science leadership positions, in a study featuring participants of 47 institutions.
Participants discussed the competitiveness of academia, workload and the expectation to work long hours among barriers to promotion, which became barriers to achieving global ocean sustainability goals.
The research collated data from 34 women leaders across 27 countries, highlighting issues they'd faced alongside action that could help overcome them.
One participant said, due to marine research traditionally being male dominated, having a woman in charge was assumed as "less convincing".
Another said a perception still prevailed that part time employees couldn't be serious about their research.
More than 70 per cent of participants perceived interdisciplinary marine research as more challenging for women leaders, with an expectation they spend more time overcoming issues compared to male colleagues.
Professor Gretta Pecl, Centre for Marine Socioecology Director at the University of Tasmania, was interviewed for the paper.
She said when it came to interdisciplinary research, collaborative and consultative leadership was often the most effective.
"It isn't always the case, but the skills of listening, creativity and innovation can lend themselves to leadership styles more common amongst women," Professor Pecl said.
The research identified several actions to promote more women into leadership positions, including creating family-friendly environments at academic institutions, informal networking opportunities, and engagement from superiors and peers.
The study recognised that gender is not binary and acknowledged the experiences of all who identified as women and also acknowledge that these and other challenges also exist for non-binary individuals.
Dr Rebecca Shellock, lead author from the Australian National University, said there needed to be changes in the way both women and men work.
"This involves institutional reforms such as changing the culture of academia, improving parental leave and adopting flexible working practices," Dr Shellock said.
"We are at a crucial point where we are facing some of the biggest issues such as climate change and food security. We need women in leadership positions more than ever before."
Dr Shellock said women experience "isolation under representation" because there's a lack of women leaders alongside them in the field.
"Women were faced with additional challenges that go beyond what men experience in the workplace, making it more more challenging to get to their positions of leadership and to be able to maintain them and stay at that level," she said.
