The article is devoted to an urgent and important topic: women’s place in science; gender inequality and achievements of prominent women academicians in the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In particular, the article analyzes the ratio of men and women holding the title of Academician of NAS of Ukraine. Areas of science in which there are more women academicians have been found. Their brief biographical notes, as well as their scientific achievements and discoveries, are presented.

Thus, there are female candidates and doctors of science, correspondent members and academics working at the Academy of Sciences. The title of academician is the highest distinction of scientific achievements of scientists. Academicians of the NAS of Ukraine are scientists who have created scientific schools recognized by the national and world scientific community, who have proposed an approach to solving scientific problems that are of great theoretical or practical importance, who carry out active scientific and social activities. Through the one hundred-year history of formation and development of the Academy of Sciences, there have been 658 academicians, but only 12 of them are women. At the beginning of 2020, there were 179 full members, 5 of them were women. This academic status was awarded to nearly 350 specialties in various fields of science (mostly in the physical, mathematical, technical and biological sciences, the least in the sociological and geographical sciences). The most women academics were in the medical sciences, namely 5. Two women were in the biological and economic sciences and the physical, mathematical, historical and geological sciences had only one academic woman each.

The first woman in the history of the Academy of Sciences to be awarded the title of Academician was Maria Pavlova, who was elected as a freelance academician in the specialty «paleontology» at the General Meeting on April 7th, 1924. Alexandra Ivanovna Smyrnova-Zamkova was elected academician in the specialty «pathological anatomy» on May 19th, 1951. On June 10th, 1964 Antonina Pryhotko was elected as a full member in the specialty «solid state physics». 26 years from that time, on May 18th, 1990, Zoya Butenko was elected an academician in the specialty «experimental oncology». The next election of academics and correspondent members has already taken place in independent Ukraine. On November 25th, 1992, four women academicians were elected at once at the General Meeting: Anna Valentina Yelska in the specialty «molecular biology», Olena Mikhailivna Lukyanova in the specialty «pediatrics», Lyubov Trokhymivna Mala in the specialty «therapy» and Nadia Oleksandrivna Puchkovska in the specislty «ophthalmology». On May 6th, 2006, Academician Anna Arkadiivna Skrypnyk was selected at the General Meeting in a specialty in ethnology. On February 4th, 2009 Ella Libanova was elected to be an Academician in the specialty «socioeconomics». At the last General Meeting which was held on March 7th, 2018, two women academicians were elected: Marina Skok in the specialty "receptor biochemistry" and Tatiana Efymenko in the specialty «economic security».

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