Just the thought that a woman could actually be an expert in science or technology is still hard to grasp for some. Holland has the lowest percentage of female scientists in Europe, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t great female scientists around, because there are and their numbers are increasing.
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“I love being an assistant professor in computer science,” says Serbian Maja Pantic of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science. “There are very few female scientists in the Netherlands, especially in exact sciences, but I don’t feel like a minority. Apart from the occasional “you’re a woman, how would you know”, I’ve only ever had positive reactions.” In her home country, the percentage of women working in science, engineering and technology (SE&T) is much larger. Pantic: “In the former East Block countries, there are more women than men in mathematics.”
The most recent figures show that in 2001 nearly 40 percent of all PhD students in Europe were female, whereas in Holland this was only 31.5 percent. And as traditionally women are under-represented in the fields of SE&T, the percentage of female PhD students in Delft was 23 percent in 2002. Taking into consideration that for the past five years about 20 percent of all TU students were female, this means that women are just as likely as men to go into PhD research.
The gender inequality rises further up the hierarchical ladder: the percentages of women working as assistant professors (UD), associate professors (UHD) and professors (HL) are 15, 5 and 3 percent, respectively. According to Pantic, this is mainly to do with Dutch culture: “From what I’ve seen, it seems a typically Dutch problem. My female students tell me their friends call them %strange birds% for studying exact sciences. Somehow the Dutch have this misconception that scientists are introverts. In my opinion, the extravert part of one’s character is essential for working in university education, because raising money for research and giving lectures both demand an extravert character.”
Zhao Fu, executive of DTO’s Mechanical Development and Prototyping section, also acknowledges that it%s a cultural problem. “In China, it’s very common for women to go into technology; but I can understand why things are different here. Gender inequality has been an important issue in China for over 50 years, while in Holland the whole discussion started much later. Inequality doesn%t disappear overnight, it takes a lot of time.”
“Women just don’t want to bother with technical problems,” says Romanian post-doc Dafina Tanase. “Here at Electrical Engineering, there are only a few women scientists. Somehow women are more interested in languages and not so much in the really technical stuff.”
Role-models
Traditionally, Dutch women stayed at home, caring for the kids, while men went off to work. Since the 1970s, however, this has been changing. Women’s labor participation has increased from 39 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2001. And as for education, women now enjoy the same level of education as men.
So what exactly is keeping women from moving up to higher ranks? Stichting de Beauvoir, a Dutch foundation for the promotion of women in science, offers several reasons. Ironically,it seems women’s efforts to eliminate the backlog in education and labor participation are partly to blame, as women apparently still comprise this backlog. Other reasons are involve motherhood: insufficient numbers of child-care facilities, and women working part-time and hence publishing fewer articles. Plus, women generally have less international work experience. And then there’s the issue of selection. Most university selection committees are comprised of men, as are committees that approve or reject research proposals. Consequently, men are often more likely to fit their criteria.
“I think girls need more female role-models,” says Petra Heijnen, post-doc at Technology, Policy and Management. “Because there aren’t many female scientists or female science teachers, girls often don’t realize science and technology is something they too could do.” Pantic agrees: “They need to see that there are female professors out there.”
TU Delft is currently working on ways to encourage women to become (associate) professors. Figures from Stichting de Beauvoir show that of all Dutch universities, only Delft and Twente have seen a decline in the number of female professors between 1997 and 2001. Meike Buteijn, senior advisor in human resource management: “Increasing the amount of female scientists is one of the main focal points in 2004/2005. The Executive Board wants more women to be assistant or associate professors and we’re now thinking of ways to achieve that goal. Together with the IDEA-league universities, we’ll also do a benchmark on female participation, where we%ll be looking at female students and staff and women in important advisory councils.”
The university also aims to pay extra attention to their present female scientists, studying what can be done to ensure they stay in Delft. Currently, a management trainee at the Civil Engineering & Geosciences Faculty is researching how women experience the faculty’s culture and what could be changed to make it a more women-friendly environment.
Methods used to erase gender inequality include positive discrimination and active recruitment. The University of Tilburg even uses a reward system, where hiring a female scientist earns the faculty money, while firing females results in having to pay back the same amount. “Although it can be rather encouraging, I think women have to decide for themselves that they want to be in science,” says Tanase. “As for scholarships, they’ll encourage women only temporarily.” Fu agrees: “By using positive discrimination or handing out rewards, you only emphasize women as being the weaker sex. And there’s no such thing. Honestly, I don’t understand all the fuss about gender inequality. Why force women to go into science if they aren’t interested?”
The Dutch government however does have special scholarships for women and over the past four years quite a few women have been given UHD positions through such scholarships. More importantly, the number of women applying for scholarships has been overwhelming, which shows that there are indeed many women interested in science; yet, women still have difficulties obtaining prominent positions. With all the (inter)national attention for women in science, however, the future looks bright. Fu: “Women initially must make more effort to prove themselves, but once you have done so, men will treat you equally.”
Just the thought that a woman could actually be an expert in science or technology is still hard to grasp for some. Holland has the lowest percentage of female scientists in Europe, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t great female scientists around, because there are and their numbers are increasing.
“I love being an assistant professor in computer science,” says Serbian Maja Pantic of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science. “There are very few female scientists in the Netherlands, especially in exact sciences, but I don’t feel like a minority. Apart from the occasional “you’re a woman, how would you know”, I’ve only ever had positive reactions.” In her home country, the percentage of women working in science, engineering and technology (SE&T) is much larger. Pantic: “In the former East Block countries, there are more women than men in mathematics.”
The most recent figures show that in 2001 nearly 40 percent of all PhD students in Europe were female, whereas in Holland this was only 31.5 percent. And as traditionally women are under-represented in the fields of SE&T, the percentage of female PhD students in Delft was 23 percent in 2002. Taking into consideration that for the past five years about 20 percent of all TU students were female, this means that women are just as likely as men to go into PhD research.
The gender inequality rises further up the hierarchical ladder: the percentages of women working as assistant professors (UD), associate professors (UHD) and professors (HL) are 15, 5 and 3 percent, respectively. According to Pantic, this is mainly to do with Dutch culture: “From what I’ve seen, it seems a typically Dutch problem. My female students tell me their friends call them %strange birds% for studying exact sciences. Somehow the Dutch have this misconception that scientists are introverts. In my opinion, the extravert part of one’s character is essential for working in university education, because raising money for research and giving lectures both demand an extravert character.”
Zhao Fu, executive of DTO’s Mechanical Development and Prototyping section, also acknowledges that it%s a cultural problem. “In China, it’s very common for women to go into technology; but I can understand why things are different here. Gender inequality has been an important issue in China for over 50 years, while in Holland the whole discussion started much later. Inequality doesn%t disappear overnight, it takes a lot of time.”
“Women just don’t want to bother with technical problems,” says Romanian post-doc Dafina Tanase. “Here at Electrical Engineering, there are only a few women scientists. Somehow women are more interested in languages and not so much in the really technical stuff.”
Role-models
Traditionally, Dutch women stayed at home, caring for the kids, while men went off to work. Since the 1970s, however, this has been changing. Women’s labor participation has increased from 39 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2001. And as for education, women now enjoy the same level of education as men.
So what exactly is keeping women from moving up to higher ranks? Stichting de Beauvoir, a Dutch foundation for the promotion of women in science, offers several reasons. Ironically,it seems women’s efforts to eliminate the backlog in education and labor participation are partly to blame, as women apparently still comprise this backlog. Other reasons are involve motherhood: insufficient numbers of child-care facilities, and women working part-time and hence publishing fewer articles. Plus, women generally have less international work experience. And then there’s the issue of selection. Most university selection committees are comprised of men, as are committees that approve or reject research proposals. Consequently, men are often more likely to fit their criteria.
“I think girls need more female role-models,” says Petra Heijnen, post-doc at Technology, Policy and Management. “Because there aren’t many female scientists or female science teachers, girls often don’t realize science and technology is something they too could do.” Pantic agrees: “They need to see that there are female professors out there.”
TU Delft is currently working on ways to encourage women to become (associate) professors. Figures from Stichting de Beauvoir show that of all Dutch universities, only Delft and Twente have seen a decline in the number of female professors between 1997 and 2001. Meike Buteijn, senior advisor in human resource management: “Increasing the amount of female scientists is one of the main focal points in 2004/2005. The Executive Board wants more women to be assistant or associate professors and we’re now thinking of ways to achieve that goal. Together with the IDEA-league universities, we’ll also do a benchmark on female participation, where we%ll be looking at female students and staff and women in important advisory councils.”
The university also aims to pay extra attention to their present female scientists, studying what can be done to ensure they stay in Delft. Currently, a management trainee at the Civil Engineering & Geosciences Faculty is researching how women experience the faculty’s culture and what could be changed to make it a more women-friendly environment.
Methods used to erase gender inequality include positive discrimination and active recruitment. The University of Tilburg even uses a reward system, where hiring a female scientist earns the faculty money, while firing females results in having to pay back the same amount. “Although it can be rather encouraging, I think women have to decide for themselves that they want to be in science,” says Tanase. “As for scholarships, they’ll encourage women only temporarily.” Fu agrees: “By using positive discrimination or handing out rewards, you only emphasize women as being the weaker sex. And there’s no such thing. Honestly, I don’t understand all the fuss about gender inequality. Why force women to go into science if they aren’t interested?”
The Dutch government however does have special scholarships for women and over the past four years quite a few women have been given UHD positions through such scholarships. More importantly, the number of women applying for scholarships has been overwhelming, which shows that there are indeed many women interested in science; yet, women still have difficulties obtaining prominent positions. With all the (inter)national attention for women in science, however, the future looks bright. Fu: “Women initially must make more effort to prove themselves, but once you have done so, men will treat you equally.”
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