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Among the Council of Ministers, there are relatively few women (4 out of
15).  However some male Ministers have spoken out strongly in support of
increasing the representation of women in science.
In the case of the Commission, input is provided by the Commissioners,
their cabinets and by members of the commission staff working in the
different Directorates. It is therefore relevant to ask what input women have
had into policy formulation at these levels. From 1995 to 1999, 5 out of the
20 Commissioners were female; a significant increase compared with
previous Commissions. A new Commission was confirmed in the autumn
of 1999. Five of the new 19 Commissioners (26%) are female. Philippe
Busquin, the new Research Commissioner, has expressed his strong
commitment to gender equality in science. Each Commissioner has a
cabinet. Almost 40% of Cabinet appointments (45 out of 120) are women.
In five cabinets either the Head or Deputy Head is female. Every cabinet
has at least one woman.
Figures are also available for the percentage of posts in each Directorate
General (DG) that are filled by women.  We have chosen to use the
percentage of ‘A’-grade posts (professionals) occupied by women in the
different DGs as a measure of the influence of women within the
Commission.  Figure 5.2 shows the percentages for each DG, with that for
the Research Directorate-General highlighted in red.  Only 9.5% of the
official posts in DGXII in the A grades are occupied by women. However, if
‘temporary research staff ’ are also included, the percentage of women in the
Research Directorate-General increases to 18.7%.  A breakdown of
individuals in A-grades into categories A1 to A8, with A1 being the top
category, is informative.  Figure 5.3 gives the overall distribution of women
in grades A1-A8 for all DGs, together with the breakdown for DGXII.  It
shows that there is no woman among the 14 individuals in the grades A1 and
A2, and only 1/40 in the A3 grade.  These numbers for the distribution of
women in A-grades are reminiscent of the vertical segregation of women in
academia described in Table 2.1.  The situation is similar to that in the early
1990s: the conclusion has to be therefore that so far, women among the staff
of the DGXII have had a minor role in the formulation of scientific policy.
Figure 5.2: Percentage of women in A grades in the Directorate Generals
of the European Commission
Members of European
Parliament, 1999
Member
%
State
women
Austria
38.1
Belgium
28.0
Denmark
37.5
Finland
43.8
France
40.2
Germany
36.4
Greece
16.0
Ireland
33.3
Italy
10.3
Luxembourg
33.3
Netherlands
32.3
Portugal
20.0
Spain
34.4
Sweden
50.0
UK
24.1
Shaping scientific policy
0.0
5.0
45.0
40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
% female
1
III
V
VII
IX
X1
X111
XV
XVII
XIX
XX1
XX111
Note: Officials are shown by solid bars. The checked bar for DGXII indicates
temporary research staff.
Source: Figures provided by the European Commission (DGIX).
Dir
ectorate General
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Science policies in the European Union
Figure 5.3: Percentage of women in Grades A1 - A8 in the European
Commission: The Research Directorate-General compared with all
Directorates (1999)
Input from scientists to the Framework Programmes can come via EU
committees or through committees in the individual Member States.  Here
it is relevant to look at the gender composition of the major committees
that set policy and control funds at the EU level.  An enormous change has
taken place recently in the gender composition of these committees.  This
started during the Fourth Framework Programme and has accelerated
during the first year of the Fifth Framework Programme.
We illustrate this by focusing on the top EU committees which set policy in
the Fourth and Fifth Framework Programmes.  In 1993, those were the
Industrial Research and Development Advisory Committee (IRDAC), the
Committee for the Development of Science and Technology (CODEST)
and the Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST).  In 1993,
only 1 of the combined 75 members of
IRDAC, CODEST and CREST was female.
In 1998, IRDAC still had no female member.
Of its 24 members, 19 were senior
industrialists and 5 represented European
organisations.  IRDAC was the main advisory
board of the EC concerned with industrial
research and development.  It advised the
Commission on ‘strategic issues concerning
the shaping and implementation of
Community policy in the field of research
and technological development including the
industrial and social impact thereof.’
The formation of ESTA - the European Science
and Technology Assembly – was announced in
1994.  Its function was to assist the
Commission with the implementation of EU
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
all DGs
DGXII
grades
Note: The numbers for DGXII include officials and temporary research staff.
Source: Figures provided by the European Commission (DGIX)
Reproduced by permission of Punch Ltd
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