Gender, Science, and Territory: the architecture of epistemic authority in the philosophical field of the National System of Researchers (SNII)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29105/aitias6.6-135

Keywords:

gender, Matilda Effect, SNII, intersectionality, epistemic authority

Abstract

The recognition of epistemic authority in the Mexican philosophical field makes it possible to identify an unequal architecture within the National System of Researchers (SNII) during 2014–2024. Based on 3,498 public records corresponding to 598 individual files, the analysis examines its distribution by institutional hierarchy, territory, and subdiscipline. The results show that gender inequality does not operate as an entry veto, but as a differential distribution of prestige: women’s participation remains limited, authority is territorially concentrated, and certain subdisciplines reproduce persistent enclaves of masculinization. This configuration is consistent with a contemporary form of the Matilda Effect, in which merit does not circulate neutrally, but is mediated by institutional, territorial, and disciplinary hierarchies. Epistemic incidence is proposed as a structural approximation to the institutional conditions that expand or restrict the capacity to shape criteria of legitimacy, academic agendas, and forms of disciplinary authority.

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Author Biographies

Mayela Abigail Aguilera Hernández, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí

Afiliaciones: Licenciatura en Ciencias Ambientales y Salud. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí

Afiliaciones: Organización para Restaurar el Medio Ambiente y la Armonía Social, A.C.

Lessly Fernanda Meléndez González, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi

Afiliaciones: Licenciatura en Ciencias Ambientales y Salud. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí

Mauricio León Arce, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi

Afiliaciones: Coordinación para la Innovación y Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí

Afiliaciones: Organización para Restaurar el Medio Ambiente y la Armonía Social, A.C.

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Published

2026-07-16

How to Cite

Aguilera Hernández, M. A., Meléndez González, L. F., & León Arce, M. (2026). Gender, Science, and Territory: the architecture of epistemic authority in the philosophical field of the National System of Researchers (SNII). Aitias, Revista De Filosofía Del CEH, 6(12), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.29105/aitias6.6-135