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2
Women in science today
This chapter reviews the position of women in science in the EU, drawing
upon such scant, haphazard and hidden data as exist, and setting the context
for the chapters that follow.  It demonstrates that after overcoming serious
barriers aided by the law and special schemes, women are beginning to
make progress in science, engineering and technology but at a very slow
pace.  They have not entered all disciplines to the same extent and where
they are found, they remain at or near the bottom rungs of the ladder in
those disciplines.  Moreover, in some fields, the position of women is
worsening.  The figures provide a shocking snapshot of exclusion and
segregation.
The lack of statistics and gender equality
indicators creates problems
The major difficulty encountered in reviewing the position of women in
science in the EU today is the lack of systematically collected and published
statistics.  Many employers and managers of science and technology in
Europe do not routinely collect gender disaggregated statistics; nor do they
take advantage of gender monitoring as a human resource and management
tool.  Where figures are collected, they are not always published.  Where
they are published, they are not always presented in a manner that makes it
straightforward to see the gendered picture.  Where statistics are collected,
presented and arranged systematically, there can be problems of
interpretation in the absence of other data.  These difficulties in establishing
a clear picture at Member State level are further compounded by problems
of making comparisons across Member States.  This has been identified as a
crucial issue in all the major documents on women in science at European
and Member State level referred to in the previous chapter.  Indeed, the
issue of statistics is so crucial it is addressed separately in Chapter 8 where it
is also argued that equality indicators need urgently to be developed.
Lack of women in top jobs in science
throughout the EU
Despite these difficulties, this section uses such figures that are available to
give an indication of broad patterns of the position of women in science.
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Science policies in the European Union
Some immediate facts are striking.  Women science professionals tend to
work in the public sector, especially in universities, rather than in the private
sector (Talapessy, 1993, p 13).  Throughout the EU, despite the increased
participation of women in higher education, and despite the increase in
women taking science subjects and moving into doctoral and postdoctoral
studies, there remain remarkably few women in top jobs in science in any of
the Member States.  Moreover, notwithstanding the fact that different
systems and cultures operate in the respective Member States, with one or
two exceptions, the overall percentage of women in top science positions is
extraordinarily similar.  Crucially, there are remarkably few women on
important scientific committees and in key policy-shaping arenas (see
Chapter 5).
Figure 2.1: Percentage of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women
Source: Copyright Rodger Doyle, reprinted from Scientific American (October, 1999, p 22)
Data are for bachelor’s or comparable degrees and apply to 1996 except for Bulgaria, Lithuania,
Slovenia, Slovakia, Macedonia, and Yugoslavia, which are for 1997; Denmark, Finland, Germany,
Portugal, Russia, Spain and the UK, which are for 1995; and Belgium, France, Greece and
Switzerland, which are for 1993. Data for Belarus, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and
Ukraine are estimates for the mid-1990s based on enrolment data.
Universities
Some general comments can be made to summarise the picture, beginning
with the picture of women in universities in the EU:
•
women now constitute 50% of first degree students in many countries
(see Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2);
•
they tend to disappear from academic life before obtaining careers posts
(such as tenure, where it exists);
•
the higher the position in the hierarchy, the lower the percentage of
women;
•
the percentage of full professors who are women is very low, ranging
from 5% in the Netherlands to 18% in Finland;
58
55
52
51
52
58
63
50+
41
58
61
59
58
51
50+
53
50+
54
51
55+
53
59
65
52
50+
51
45
36
40+
45
Slovenia 62
Croatia 55
Yugoslavia 54
Macedonia 56
Albania 56
Under 50
55 to 54.9
55 or more
No data
Percent of Bachelor's Degrees awarded to women
 ‘It is wholly unacceptable that
Britain’s universities should
remain bastions of male power
and privilege.  All universities
should take steps to ensure
women’s fair representation,
and should monitor and publish
information about women’s
progress.  Oxford and
Cambridge, centres of academic
excellence in Britain and
worldwide have particular need
to take positive action’
Hansard Society Commission on
Women at the Top (1990)
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Women in science today
Figure 2.2: Percentage of students in higher education that are female by field
of study1994-95 in the EU Member States
•
there are considerable variations in the proportion of women between
disciplines; and
•
those disciplines with hardly any women in most countries such as
theoretical physics, tend to be high status.
Medical Science
100
Portugal tops the league for
women professors
Portugal seems to have been
extraordinarily successful in
incorporating women into
science departments at
universities and research
institutes. In the Science faculty
at the University of Lisbon, 30.7%
of the full (catedratico)
professors, 58.9% of the associate
(associado) professors and 57.2%
of the assistant (auxiliar)
professors are women.
Women hold 33/73 (45.2%) of
the principal investigator
positions in three new research
institutes:
•
Institute for Cell and
Molecular Biology, Porto
(IBMC);
•
Institute for Molecular
Pathology, Porto (IPATIMUP);
and
•
Institute for Biotechnology
(ITQB).
How has this come about in a
country where, before 1990,
there were practically no
conditions to do research in life
sciences in the country (with the
exception of a private Research
Institute funded by Fundacao
Calouste Gulbenkian)?
Scientists employed by
universities were faced with low
salaries, a lack of infrastructure
and no national funds for grant
money. And during the 60s and
70s, all post-university males
were forced to join the army to
fight in Africa. This led to:
•
a male preference for better
paid careers (such as
engineering, economics and
law);
•
a brain-drain of bright male
scientists.
continued on next page
Reprinted from Annex 2 of the Communication from the Commission  Women and Science COM
(1999)76 final. (CEC, 1999)
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0
EU
B
DK
D
E
IRL
I
L
NL
A
P
FN
S
UK
Engineering,  Architecture
%
Natural Science
75
100
50
25
0
EU
B
DK
D
E
IRL
I
L
NL
A
P
FN
S
UK
%
100
Mathematics, Computer Science
75
50
25
0
EU
B
DK
D
E
IRL
I
L
NL
A
P
FN
S
UK
%
75
100
50
25
0
EU
B
DK
D
E
IRL
I
L
NL
A
P
FN
S
UK
%
EU
European Union
B
Belgium
DK
Denmark
D
Germany
E
Spain
IRL
Ireland
I
Italy
L
Luxembourg
NL
Netherlands
A
Austria
P
Portugal
FN
France
S
Sweden
UK
United Kingdom
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