ESOF 2004Women Physicists in Europe

and the US:Working Together

August 27, 2004

Judy FranzExecutive Officer, American Physical Society

Secretary General, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics

The percentage of women in science in almost all countries decreases with each step up the academic ladder and in industrial and government laboratories.

We must all work together to change this.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

93/94 00/01 93/94 00/01 93/94 00/01 93/94 00/01

LecturersAssistant

ProfessorsFull

ProfessorsAssociate Professors

Women in Academia in Greece

Percentages of women physicists in each academic rank

1920 19301930 19401940 19501950 19601960 19701970 19801980 19901990 20021920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19900

10

20

30

40All Fields

PhysicalSciences

Physics

Percent of PhDs Awarded to Women in Selected Fields, 1920 - 2002

Sources: National Research Council, National Opinion Research Center, and National Science Foundation.Compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center.

Perc

ent

Percent of Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1966-2001.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics. Data for Academic Year 1999 were not available. Compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center.

20011966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996

0%

10%

30%

40%

50%%

60%

ALL FIELDSBIOLOGICAL SCICHEMISTRYCOMPUTER SCIMATHEMATICSPHYSICSENGINEERING

20%

2001

Percent of PhDs Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1958-2002.

Source: National Science Foundation. Compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center.

20021958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 19980%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

All FieldsBiological SciencesChemistry

MathematicsPhysicsEngineering

Percent of Bachelor’s and PhD Degrees in Physics Earned by Women, 1975 - 2003

Bachelor’s

PhD

Source: AIP Statistical Research Center: Enrollments and Degrees Report

75 80 85 90 95 2003200320030

4

8

12

16

20

24

Bachelors

PhD

Perc

ent

Change for PhDs is about 0.35%/year.

This means that in 10 years the change is 3.5%, not much bigger than the fluctuations!

1010

1414

1313

77

1515

1616

1111

55

20022002(%)(%)

88

1111

99

66

1313

1717

1010

33

19981998(%)(%)

66

77

77

55

88

1212

88

33

19941994(%)(%)

OverallOverall

BachelorBachelor’’ss

MasterMaster’’ss

PhDPhD

Other RanksOther Ranks

AssistantAssistantProfessorProfessor

Associate Associate ProfessorProfessor

Full ProfessorFull ProfessorAcademicAcademicRankRank

Type of Type of DepartmentDepartment

AIP Statistical Research Center: 2002 AWF SurveyAIP Statistical Research Center: 2002 AWF Survey

Percent of Faculty Positions in Physics Held by Women, 1994, Percent of Faculty Positions in Physics Held by Women, 1994, 1998 and 20021998 and 2002

% of PhD Physics DepartmentsWith Given Number of Women Faculty

Source: 2002 AWF Survey, Statistical Research Center, American Institute of Physics.

Zero One Two Three Four Five+0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1985 2002

Number of Women Faculty

PercentPe

rcen

t

131388JapanJapan

303088South KoreaSouth Korea

5599NetherlandsNetherlands

101099GermanyGermany

17171313SwedenSweden

18181313United StatesUnited States

20201616United King.United King.

32322020IndiaIndia

37372121TurkeyTurkey

36362323PolandPoland

33332727FranceFrance

First Level %First Level %PhD's %PhD's %CountryCountry

05

10152025303540

UndergradStudent

GraduateStudents

PhD Students

Researcher Lecturer Senior Staff Professor

%Women

Chart showing percentage of women in academic posts from undergraduates to professors 2002 in the UK

(Data from HESA)

1110

188 14811

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

First Sem Diploma Ph.D. Habilitation

Women in Physics in Germany

Statistics: R. Kassing, Phys. Bl. 57/9 (2001) 30-35. and Statistisches Bundesamt: Unpublished tables of students and academic qualifications in physics. 2002

Women in Physics in Germany

Statistisches Bundesamt: Unpublished tables of students and academic qualifications in physics. 2002

Statistisches Bundesamt: Unpublished tables of students and academic qualifications in physics. 2002

Women in Physics in Germany

Why is it important that we work together?

•Help overcome myths

Learn from each other what works

Improve women’s careers

Myths:•Women don’t like physics

•Women aren’t good at physics because they can’t do math

•Women can’t compete

•Women have children and then can’t keep up

Country comparisons for physics:

•Iran: 57% of the B.Sc. degrees go to women.

•Romania: 49% of the graduate students in physics are women

•Spain: 26% of full professors are women

Percent of PhDs Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1958-2002.

Source: National Science Foundation. Compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center.

20021958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 19980%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

All FieldsBiological SciencesChemistry

MathematicsPhysicsEngineering

Myths:•Women don’t like physics

•Women aren’t good at physics because they can’t do math

•Women can’t compete

•Women have children and then can’t keep up

Why is it important that we work together?

Help overcome myths

•Learn from each other what works

Improve women’s careers

Learning what worksGathering statistics:

Leaky pipeline (US)Scissors plot (Europe)

Forming women in physics committees or groups

Recent additions: EPS, JPS, KPS, etc.

Site visits (APS) and studies (MIT)

Site visit to investigate the Climate for Women in PhD-Granting Physics

Departments

1. Statistics collected from the department

2. One-day visit by 4 – 5 female physicists

3. Report to chair on needed changes

Program began in 1990 with an NSF grant

26 universities have been visited

Among these are:

ColoradoColoradoRPIRPIIllinoisIllinoisDukeDukePenn StatePenn StateWisconsinWisconsinPrincetonPrincetonStanfordStanford

ColumbiaColumbiaMarylandMarylandCal TechCal TechNC StateNC StateVirginiaVirginiaKansasKansasTexasTexasHarvardHarvard

Why is it important that we work together?

Help overcome myths

Learn from each other what works

•Improve women’s careers

The General Assembly recommends that Adhering Bodies appoint women to Liaison Committees, that gender be a consideration in nominations to Commissions and the Council, and expects that IUPAP sponsored conferences have women as members of their program committees.

Passed unanimously!

Things are improving for women in science, and they will improve more quickly if we all work together!