TU Delft has taken its first steps by supporting a new organization called DEWIS, or Delft Women in Science, a university-wide support network for female scientists.
DEWIS was founded by Professor Sevil Sariyildiz and aims to help the university achieve ambitious new goals set by the Dutch Ministry of Education: to increase the number of female faculty members from the 3% currently to 15% by 2010.
Most people who come to TU Delft realize this fact very quickly: there are significantly more male students than female students on campus. And this trend continues with regard to gender ratios for PhD students and faculty staff members. Unfortunately, this phenomenon isn’t only confined to TU Delft. There are generally too few women in scientific disciplines throughout the Netherlands: 8% in science and 6% in engineering. Compare this with the average 23% and 12% respectively in the EU-15, and in particular, 48% and 29% in Portugal.
In light of these statistics, the European Union has set a goal that 25% of all professors should be women by 2010. And the Dutch Ministry of Education has set an equally ambitious goal: to increase the number of female professors from the current 3% to 15% by 2010. The goals are set and the will to achieve them is there, but how can this be turned into reality?
TU Delft has taken its first steps by supporting a new organization called DEWIS, or Delft Women in Science, a university-wide network for female scientists, which includes PhD students, professors, staff members, researchers and post-doctorate fellows. DEWIS’s goal is to help increase the number of female scientists by supporting them in their personal and professional lives, by strengthening contacts with industry and other organizations, and by offering female scientists an opportunity to get to know each other and exchange knowledge. This is done through DEWIS’s monthly lunch meetings, workshops, coaching, and by creating a strong alumni network.
Dr. Madeleine Gibescu is a post-doctoral fellow at the EEMCS Faculty and a DEWIS member. Originally from Romania, she’s currently the only foreigner in DEWIS’s steering committee, but says that “it doesn’t matter where a person is from. If you’re a female staff member at TU Delft, then you’re automatically a member.” Professor Sevil Sariyildiz, a prominent professor at the TU’s Faculty of Architecture and chairwoman of DEWIS agrees wholeheartedly: “Foreign staff members are indeed welcome!”
Sariyildiz is convinced that DEWIS provides an important network. Female students in science and engineering are here, but somehow they don’t continue on in these disciplines. Sariyildiz says this gap can be combated by “providing more female role models.”
Gibescu agrees: “Women need a support system, people to talk to who have been through similar circumstances and made it.” Women sometimes aren’t as self-confident as they should be, questioning whether they’re “good enough”, especially if they’ve just started their studies or careers.
To deal with such issues, Gibescu joined a similar group to DEWIS at the University of Washington (USA), where she obtained her Master’s and PhD degrees, and where she was able to talk with other female scientists in the group and discuss the various challenges facing them. Now, ten years later, she can look back and say: “Women put lots of pressure on themselves, thinking they have to be geniuses to justify their choices for engineering or science. But it’s rather silly to do this. It’s enough to enjoy it and be as good as your peers.”
Childcare
In addition to female scientists mutually supporting each other, other changes in society are needed to encourage women in science and engineering. One significant improvement would be to have a day-care nursery on-site for TU Delft staff members’ children. This would not only provide peace of mind for female scientists with children, but also perhaps ameliorate or even eliminate the harsh decisions that most women must make: whether to have a career, or a family, or both, and how to juggle this.
Sariyildiz, who is originally from Turkey, thinks that one reason for the high percentage (34%) of female professors in Turkey is because childcare and help are more available and cheaper. Gibescu, who has a young child, agrees, adding that for her the part-time arrangement offered by TU Delft is ideal: working four days a week, and her husband the same, means that there are then two days per week when either she or her husband can stay at home with the child.
But more important than just providing tangible support like childcare facilities, the culture and mentality of the general public must also change. Sariyildiz says that people need to recognize that “a family and a job is ‘double work’.” Fortunately, she feels that the mentality is in fact changing, and that people are now generally more accepting of this fact.
Sariyildiz is happy that this mentality is also changing at TU Delft. She has worked very hard over the past two years to develop DEWIS, and during that time she feels that male colleagues have become more positive towards female scientists. TU Delft’s Executive Board has also been very supportive and now has a new strategy in place to make it easier for the university community to accept this change. The various faculty deans are also more aware of this situation and are actively searching for female candidates for professorships. This can be seen by the fact that two years ago there were seven female professors at TU Delft, and now there are sixteen.
So to keep this wheel turning, what is DEWIS planning for the future? Right now, Sariyildiz is “very pleased that female scientists have shown a lot of interest in DEWIS” and that the inaugural lunch and meeting held last June with Holland’s State Secretary of Economic Affairs Karien van Gennep was a success. In the short term, Sariyildiz wants DEWIS to continue with its current activities, which she hopes in the long term will increase the number of female scientists and positively impact the whole TU Delft culture.
And what about the Dutch Ministry of Education’s targets for increasing the percentage of female professors? Sariyildiz smiles and offers a Dutch expression: “Willen is kunnen (‘Wanting it, is making it happen’).”
For more information, visit @01 url:www.tudelft.nl and search under ‘DEWIS’, or email: dewis@tudelft.nl. The next monthly DEWIS lunch meeting is on December 5th.
Madeleine Gibescu (Photo: Hans Stakelbeek/FMAX)
Most people who come to TU Delft realize this fact very quickly: there are significantly more male students than female students on campus. And this trend continues with regard to gender ratios for PhD students and faculty staff members. Unfortunately, this phenomenon isn’t only confined to TU Delft. There are generally too few women in scientific disciplines throughout the Netherlands: 8% in science and 6% in engineering. Compare this with the average 23% and 12% respectively in the EU-15, and in particular, 48% and 29% in Portugal.
In light of these statistics, the European Union has set a goal that 25% of all professors should be women by 2010. And the Dutch Ministry of Education has set an equally ambitious goal: to increase the number of female professors from the current 3% to 15% by 2010. The goals are set and the will to achieve them is there, but how can this be turned into reality?
TU Delft has taken its first steps by supporting a new organization called DEWIS, or Delft Women in Science, a university-wide network for female scientists, which includes PhD students, professors, staff members, researchers and post-doctorate fellows. DEWIS’s goal is to help increase the number of female scientists by supporting them in their personal and professional lives, by strengthening contacts with industry and other organizations, and by offering female scientists an opportunity to get to know each other and exchange knowledge. This is done through DEWIS’s monthly lunch meetings, workshops, coaching, and by creating a strong alumni network.
Dr. Madeleine Gibescu is a post-doctoral fellow at the EEMCS Faculty and a DEWIS member. Originally from Romania, she’s currently the only foreigner in DEWIS’s steering committee, but says that “it doesn’t matter where a person is from. If you’re a female staff member at TU Delft, then you’re automatically a member.” Professor Sevil Sariyildiz, a prominent professor at the TU’s Faculty of Architecture and chairwoman of DEWIS agrees wholeheartedly: “Foreign staff members are indeed welcome!”
Sariyildiz is convinced that DEWIS provides an important network. Female students in science and engineering are here, but somehow they don’t continue on in these disciplines. Sariyildiz says this gap can be combated by “providing more female role models.”
Gibescu agrees: “Women need a support system, people to talk to who have been through similar circumstances and made it.” Women sometimes aren’t as self-confident as they should be, questioning whether they’re “good enough”, especially if they’ve just started their studies or careers.
To deal with such issues, Gibescu joined a similar group to DEWIS at the University of Washington (USA), where she obtained her Master’s and PhD degrees, and where she was able to talk with other female scientists in the group and discuss the various challenges facing them. Now, ten years later, she can look back and say: “Women put lots of pressure on themselves, thinking they have to be geniuses to justify their choices for engineering or science. But it’s rather silly to do this. It’s enough to enjoy it and be as good as your peers.”
Childcare
In addition to female scientists mutually supporting each other, other changes in society are needed to encourage women in science and engineering. One significant improvement would be to have a day-care nursery on-site for TU Delft staff members’ children. This would not only provide peace of mind for female scientists with children, but also perhaps ameliorate or even eliminate the harsh decisions that most women must make: whether to have a career, or a family, or both, and how to juggle this.
Sariyildiz, who is originally from Turkey, thinks that one reason for the high percentage (34%) of female professors in Turkey is because childcare and help are more available and cheaper. Gibescu, who has a young child, agrees, adding that for her the part-time arrangement offered by TU Delft is ideal: working four days a week, and her husband the same, means that there are then two days per week when either she or her husband can stay at home with the child.
But more important than just providing tangible support like childcare facilities, the culture and mentality of the general public must also change. Sariyildiz says that people need to recognize that “a family and a job is ‘double work’.” Fortunately, she feels that the mentality is in fact changing, and that people are now generally more accepting of this fact.
Sariyildiz is happy that this mentality is also changing at TU Delft. She has worked very hard over the past two years to develop DEWIS, and during that time she feels that male colleagues have become more positive towards female scientists. TU Delft’s Executive Board has also been very supportive and now has a new strategy in place to make it easier for the university community to accept this change. The various faculty deans are also more aware of this situation and are actively searching for female candidates for professorships. This can be seen by the fact that two years ago there were seven female professors at TU Delft, and now there are sixteen.
So to keep this wheel turning, what is DEWIS planning for the future? Right now, Sariyildiz is “very pleased that female scientists have shown a lot of interest in DEWIS” and that the inaugural lunch and meeting held last June with Holland’s State Secretary of Economic Affairs Karien van Gennep was a success. In the short term, Sariyildiz wants DEWIS to continue with its current activities, which she hopes in the long term will increase the number of female scientists and positively impact the whole TU Delft culture.
And what about the Dutch Ministry of Education’s targets for increasing the percentage of female professors? Sariyildiz smiles and offers a Dutch expression: “Willen is kunnen (‘Wanting it, is making it happen’).”
For more information, visit @01 url:www.tudelft.nl and search under ‘DEWIS’, or email: dewis@tudelft.nl. The next monthly DEWIS lunch meeting is on December 5th.
Madeleine Gibescu (Photo: Hans Stakelbeek/FMAX)
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