The Leaky Pipeline

Gender Barriers in Science, Engineering and Technology

Women in S&T

• Women are underrepresented at every level of science and technology.

• They are ‘under-educated, have fewer credentials, are under-employed and clearly under-promoted’ around the world

Some statistics

• In the US, only 29% of women in SET full-time teaching positions are tenured, compared to 58% of men.

• In Germany only 6% of full professors are women; the number of women in influential science bodies ranges from 0-10%

• In Japan, women make up 6.8% of PhD students in physics, and 7.1% in engineering

Data for some developing countries

• The percentage of women researchers in Brazil ranges from 20-29% in natural sciences, 53% in health sciences, and 52% in biology related research

• In Egypt, women constitute 28.9% of faculty members in medicine, 13.9% in veterinary medicine, 25.4% in sciences, 13.7 in agriculture, and 9.4 in engineering

Leaky pipeline

• “Leaky Pipeline” = attrition of women and girls at every level of S&T

• There is a large discrepancy between enrolment of women students at undergraduate level, and rate of promotions and tenure for women faculty members– MIT: in 1994 only 8% of faculty in the

School of Science were women– 15 out of 194 faculty

Gender ratios in US neuroscience programmes, 1988-1992

0102030405060708090

WomenMen

Points/Avenues of Attrition:

• sociocultural attitudes• education• academic positions• science and technology

professions• S&T development and

transfer

Sociocultural attitudes• Men outnumber women in Asia:

• Amniocentesis, discrimination, neglect, poor health and nutrition, religion

Western Asia 92 women per 100 menOceania 95South Asia 96East Asia 97Southeast AsiaCentral Asia

99103

Sociocultural attitudes

• Illiteracy: Women comprise 543 of the 854 million illiterates in the world – 63%

• Girls constitute 2/3 of children without access to basic education

• S&T subjects not considered “suitable” for girls

• Girls leave school for marriage, domestic chores, pregnancy

Primary and secondary education

• Teachers’ preconceptions about girls’ abilities

• Children’s preconceptions about who is a scientist– Stereotypes– Differing perceptions of ability and self-

confidence

• Education investments tend to be reserved for boys

Primary and secondary education

• Girls enjoy different approaches to science:– Practical, hands-on– Environmentally and socially

applicable– Application to their lives

Tertiary level S&T• Third World Organisation for Women in

Science (TWOWS) 1995 study of its 1,387 members:

Biology and med.40%

Chemical14%

Physical11%

Envt12%

Agr.10%

Eng6%

Math4%

Sci&Dev2% Other

1%

Science education trends

• Women tend to enroll in non-science courses at tertiary levels

• Strong misogynous messages• Strong masculine image of S&T:

language, approach, images• Girls as “connected knowers” do not

relate to idea of distanced, disinterested observer

University and research

• Women’s maternal role considered to clash with academic requirements– Tenure– Two career families

• Old boys’ networks, interaction with male colleagues

• Citation of women’s work

University and research

• Attitudes to “appropriate” work and behaviour for women– ‘Pushy and bitchy’ or ‘assured and

persuasive’– Melissa Franklin, Harvard University

• Double standard for performance– Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, physicist

S&T Employment

• “Micro-inequities’, invisible barriers to women’s equal entry to and participation produce a ‘chilly climate’ for women and girls in S&T– Attitudes of male interviewers– Women tend to be assigned to less powerful

committees, possess fewer budgetary resources, and are placed in less-centrally located offices

– Less access to the ‘old boy’ networks and decision making

Chilly Climate

– Less access to mentors and role models;– Harassment– Gender differences in communication

and working styles– Gender gap in salaries between men and

women in most countries– In all countries of the world, women are

generally the last hired and first fired.

S&T development and transfer: Meeting the needs of society

• After decades of S&T interventions in development, women’s overall position has declined relative to men, and women have become disproportionately poor in relation to the men in their communities.

• Women’s S&T activities in their daily work is overlooked– They engage in 60-100% of agricultural

production activities in the developing world

Meeting the needs of society

• Informal sector in non-agricultural GDP is between 45 to 60 percent, and women make up at least half of workers in the sector (often more)

• New technologies tend to be directed at men, marginalizing women

• When technologies improve women’s production and increase income, children’s well-being improves, school enrolment rises, birth rates decrease and environmental conservation increases.

Strategies, programmes and policy • Education

– Decrease illiteracy of girls and women– Curricula which is gender- and context-

appropriate, and which is oriented to the interests of girls and women

– Mentors, advisors and role models• www.mentornet.org• www.mentorgirls.org

– Distance learning– Educate teachers

Tertiary education

• Assistance to women students with children:– University of Auckland : scholarships,

childcare subsidies– University of Indonesia: campus housing

• Mentor, mentor, mentor• Korea: Engineering school placed in

women’s university• Women-focused courses and academies• Carnegie Mellon University

University positions

• MIT study and followup (1999) – Women on hiring committees– Equal access to research funds– Equal pay

• Flexible tenure criteria • Refresher courses, re-entry

scholarships• Professional networks

S&T Employment

• Alternative work arrangements for domestic responsibilities for both men and women

• Hiring and promotion criteria that value family responsibilities

• Policies against discrimination and harassment in the workplace

• Training and advancement programmes which target women

• Ericsson Equal Opportunities Award

Gender disaggregated data

• Baseline requirement - little collected globally

• GAB/UNESCO Toolkit on Gender Indicators in Engineering, Science and Technology– http://GSTGateway.wigsat.org

• Southeast Asia Regional Workshop on Gender, Science and Technology, 2001

• WIEGO: Women in Informal Employment – www.wiego.org

Resources

• Education and Careers– Gender and Science and Technology

Association (GASAT)– Education Development Centre– Association for Women in Science (AWIS)– Education and Human Resources, AAAS– Third World Organization for Women in Science

(TWOWS)– International Organization of Science and

Technology Educators (IOSTE)– Global Alliance for Diversifying the Science and

Engineering Workforce

Resources

• Policy– Gender Advisory Board, UNCSTD

•http://gab.wigsat.org– UNESCO Chair in Women, Science

and Technology in Latin America– Once and Future Action Network

(OFAN)– Gender Task Force, ITU