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Science policies in the European Union
The percentage of faculty of different ranks that are women for all
disciplines combined is shown in Table 2.1.  Comparison of the figures at
full professor level shows a rather dismal picture.   Even in the top scoring
Member States, such as Finland, France and Spain, women now make up
only about 13%-18% of full professors.  Elsewhere, such as Austria, Belgium,
Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, women only constitute
7% or less of full professors.  Women are found in higher proportions
among Assistant Professors and Associate Professors but again, in almost all
EU Member States, they constitute only a minor proportion of the
professoriat in these ranks.
Table 2.1: Women professors: Percentage of faculty that are women
(Different ranks, all disciplines)
Country
Year
A (Full)
B (Assoc)
C (Assist)
Turkey
1996/7
21.5
30.7
28.0
Finland
1998
18.4
Portugal
a
1997
17.0
36.0
44.0
France
1997/8
13.8
34.2
Spain
1995/6
13.2
34.9
30.9
Norway
1997
11.7
27.7
37.6
Sweden
1997/8
11.0
22.0
45.0
Italy
1997
11.0
27.0
40.0
Greece
1997/8
9.5
20.3
30.6
UK
1996/7
8.5
18.4
33.3
Iceland
1996
8.0
22.0
45.0
Israel
1996
7.8
16.0
30.8
Belgium (Fr)
1997
7.0
7.0
18.0
Denmark
1997
7.0
19.0
32.0
Ireland
1997/8
6.8
7.5
16.3
Austria
1999
6.0
7.0
12.0
Germany
1998
5.9
11.3
23.8
Switzerland
1996
5.7
19.2
25.6
Belgium (Fl)
1998
5.1
10.0
13.1
Netherlands
1998
5.0
7.0
20.0
Australia
1997
14.0
23.0
40.7
USA
1998
13.8
30.0
43.1
Canada
1998
12.0
New Zealand
1998
10.4
10.2/23.5
45.5
Updated from Osborn (1998)
The countries are listed according to the percentage of full professors that are female.
Note: Belgium keeps two sets of statistics, one for the French (Fr) and one for the Flemish (Fl)
part.
a
 Portugal. Numbers include only academic staff performing R and D activities.
Note: for sources of figures and notes to Table, see Appendix III.
With some exceptions, women appear to fare better in scientific professions
in Southern EU Member States than among Northern ones (see Table 2.1).
There are variations in patterns of economic activity over the life-cycle
among women in the various Member States.  Hence while career breaks
and part-time working are common in some Northern European countries
such as the UK, and the Netherlands, elsewhere, for example, Spain, France
and Italy, women are much more likely to work full-time and throughout
their adult life.  Systems of support and cultural expectations reflect and
create these differences.  The subject needs further research (see Rubery et
al, 1998).
Thus, a lot of positions in the
universities started to be
occupied by women.
The CIENCIA Programme (500
million euros funded 75% by the
EU and 25% from Portugal)
resulted in:
•
new research institutes such
as IBMC, IPATIMUP and ITQB
being built and fully equipped;
•
an enormous increase in the
number of young people
(both female and male)
attracted to science due to
the possibility of getting
fellowships; and
•
the establishment of a system
to fund research grants.
The second Programme, PRAXIS
XXI runs from 1994 to 2000.
Again, the budget of 525 million
euros is composed of 75% EU
funds (coming from FEDER) and
25% national funds. The money is
distributed by the Fundacao Para
a Ciencia e Tecnologia, using the
national peer review system. In
this programme, the priorities
are:
•
Research grants;
•
Fellowships (the first post-doc
fellowships were introduced
in 1994 and the plan is to
start soon with an additional
fellowship program for young
group leaders).
(Contributed by Maria Carmo-
Fonseca, University of Lisbon)
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Women in science today
Variations over time
The figures in Table 2.1 give only a snapshot impression.  The increase in
percentage of female full professors over time is shown for several countries
in Figure 2.3.  In many countries the percentages remained static during the
1980s but began to show a slow steady increase at the beginning of the
1990s.  Occasionally, because of special circumstances there is a dramatic
increase.  For example in Finland, in 1998, all associate professors were
promoted to full professor resulting in an increase in the proportion of
women from 13% to 18% in a single year.  Equally, the end of the ‘binary
divide’ between universities and polytechnics in the UK for example,
enhanced the numbers of women chairs as women were more likely to be
found in senior positions in the institutions that became new universities.
In the Netherlands, the restructuring of the senior tiers of academia caused
a serious set back for women:
‘But even in the long-industrialised European countries, the story has
not been one of automatic growth. Thus in the Netherlands… the
situation for women academics has deteriorated over the past two
decades. Where in 1970 there were 2.7 per cent women professors, by
1980 this was down to 2.2 per cent and by 1988 to 2.1 per cent. But
the Netherlands is a small country, and the raw figures are more
graphic: thus where there were 65 women professors in 1970, by 1988
there were only 50. The middle rank from whom the professoriat is
recruited had also shrunk, in this case from 312 to 105 women’ (Rose
1994, p 103)
An important statistic is the percentage that women form, per year, of new
appointments at each level. Only then can one calculate the rate at which
change in the overall numbers is likely. We were able to obtain this statistic
for only two countries:
•
Poland: Women were 9.4 % of those given the title of Professor in 1977,
16.6 % in 1988, 20 % in 1990 and 21.9 % in 1996.
•
Germany:  In 1997, 12.4% of those appointed at the C4 (or full professor)
level, and 17.8% of those appointed at the C3 (or associate level) were
female. In 1998, 9.7% of those appointed at the C4 level and 17.3% of
those appointed at the C3 level were female.
Assuming that a C4 professor occupies the post for an average of 18 years,
and that around 5.5% of C4 professors are women, appointments at a rate of
around 13% per year will lead to an increase of around 0.5% per year, under
normal circumstances. Indeed this is the rate for Germany seen in Fig 2.3.
Doubling the proportion of appointments that go to women at this level
would double the rate of increase.
Women and science beyond
the EU
The report concentrates on
women in Member States. There
are however two additional
blocks of countries for which
data and analysis would be of
special interest.
•
the 15 associated states to
the Fifth Framework
Programme that include the
Central and Eastern
European countries. For
these countries, it would be
important to know both the
current status of women in
science as well as how this
has been affected by recent
social, economic and
political changes.
•
the countries of the INCO
MED programme which
include the non-Member
States around the
Mediterranean. In some of
these countries
improvements for women in
science need necessarily to
be linked to a longer
process in which
educational measures are
clearly very important.
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