The motivation for starting NorWiP

The laws of physics know no gender. Nor does the outcome of a physical experiment depend on the gender of the person carrying out the experiment. Thus, when academic positions are offered, the aim is to hire the best suited candidate, without regard to gender. Nevertheless, several studies show that gender does influence who gets hired for academic positions [e.g. Wennerås & Wold, 1997]. Although it is often hard to find concrete evidence of discrimination in individual cases, the overall picture is clear: Women in science are not included into academia in the proportion they should. If the selection process for permanent positions was unbiased, the gender distribution of the staff with permanent positions should at least to some extent reflect the gender distribution of the PhD’s and post doc.s.

The figure below shows the gender distribution at different academic levels in physics at four major universities in Denmark in 2002. M.Sc. and PhD stands for the gender distribution of the persons that obtained a M.Sc. or PhD degree respectively that year. Lmt stands for time-limited positions after PhD level, as post doc.s, project employed assistant professors etc., who was based at the univer­sities at January 1, 2002. Ass. prof. stands for assistant and associated professors and prof. for the full professors with permanent positions at January 1, 2002. The figure shows that women comprised 16 % and 25 % of the masters and PhD’s respectively that year, and 21 % of the persons in time limited positions were female. Studies show that the number of and the gender distribution among masters and PhD’s produced can have a significant annual variation [Wang, 2003, Fox Maule, 2002]. There is good reason to believe that the transmission of young scientists from master level to PhD [Andersen et al., 2001] and from PhD to post doc. level does not have a strong gender bias. However, when looking at the gender distribution of the associated and full professors 94 % and 97 %, respectively, are male. These numbers does not seem to vary much in time.

Figure 1: The gender distribution in physics at different academic levels at four universities in Denmark¹ in 2002.

The progress on getting more women into academic positions within the natural sciences is very slow. Women comprised 14 % of the faculty at the Science Faculty at the University of Copenhagen in 1970. In 2001 the number was 13 % [Henningsen, 2004]. It is questionable, whether this can be inter­preted as a decrease, but it cannot under any circumstances be interpreted as an increase in the share of female scientists employed by the faculty. This stagnation cannot be explained by drag caused by the low employment rate in recent years. The percentage of women among the newly employed scientific staff from 1996–2001 (87 persons in total) was 14; of the scientific staff hired before 1970, 16 % were women [Henningsen, 2004]. Thus, in spite of the fact that the potential for hiring women to academic positions within the natural sciences has increased greatly through the last 30 years, as the number of female PhD’s and post doc.s has increased, women are not hired to a greater extent today than 30 years ago. The University of Copenhagen is not the best example among the Danish universities in this area, nor is it the worst. It does, however, reflect the general situation for women in academia, which is not unique to either the natural sciences or Denmark [e.g. Potter, 1999].

The main objectives of NorWiP

The number of female physicists with permanent positions at the Nordic universities is so low that it is very difficult for young women to find female role models within their own discipline in their own country. Increasing the local networks of female physicists to a Nordic network, the pool of potential role models is increased. Studies have shown that female PhD students with female advisors publish more scientific papers, than female students with male advisors [Fox, 1995]. Female role models have been shown to have a positive influence on preventing women from leaking out of the academic system at a higher rate than their male colleagues [Dresselhaus et al., 1994]. Thus it is important for young women to find female advisors, mentors or role models within their own discipline of physics. An important part of the Nordic Network will be to create better contacts across the Nordic countries by maintaining a data base of female physicists from or working in the Nordic countries.

The objectives of the Nordic Network for Women in Physics will be

• To exchange information and knowledge among female physicists.
• To establish contacts between female physicists working in or originating from the Nordic countries.
• To facilitate international networking by developing contacts with women in physics organizations around the world.
• To increase the visibility of women working in various fields of physics in the Nordic countries.
• To identify gender barriers in the career paths of women in physics and to work towards removing such barriers.
• To exchange information on teaching methods, which enhance young women’s interest in and benefits from physics.

NorWiP will operate through meetings and an active web forum. The web site will contain a web data base of female physicists from the Nordic countries at PhD level or above. The data base will contain brief biogra­phical information about the scientists and can be used by men and women to find female scientists within specific disciplines of physics for collaboration. The data base can also be used by committees and councils that wish to find female referees, reviewers or women to sit in advisory committees or the like. The web site will also have a notice board of available positions and stipends, and links to conferences regarding women in science (gender related conferences).

Notes

[1] University Copenhagen, University of Aarhus, University of Southern Denmark, and Roskilde University.

References

Andersen, N. O., J. R. Hansen, K. B. Laursen & S. E. Nielsen, Kandidater i Matematik-, Fysik- og Kemifagene: Hvor gik de hen? En kortlægning af produktion og beskæftigelse for perioden 1985-1999. Niels Bohr Institute, (Appendix 3, http://www.mfk.nbi.dk,) juli 2001.

Dresselhaus, M.S., J.R. Franz & B.C. Clark, Interventions to Increase the Participation of Women in Physics, Science, vol. 263, p. 1392, 1994.

Fox, M. F., Women and higher education: gender differences in the status of students and scholars, in Jo Freeman, Ed., Women: A Feminist Perspective, Mayfield Publishing Cp., Mountain View, CA, 1995.

Fox Maule, C., Equal opportunities – Equal success?, poster to IUPAP’s (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) International Conference on Women in Physics in Paris, March 2002.

Henningsen, I., Arbejdspapir til Køn i den Akademiske Organisation, Københavns Universitet, 2003.

IUPAP, Conference resolutions from the IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics, 2002.

Potter, M.C., et al., A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.pdf, 1999.

Wang, J.E., Nøgletal for Det naturvidenskabelige Fakultet, 2003.

Wennerås, C. & A. Wold, Nepostim and sexism in peer-review, Nature, Vol. 387, 341-343, 1997.

Cathrine Fox Maule, December 7th, 2004