Equality in science: Women's proportion slowly increases!

Equality in science: Women's proportion slowly increases!

The current evaluation of the equality monitor, published by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) under the direction of Bettina Stark-Watzinger, brings both positive and worrying knowledge of gender distribution in science. The report is based on extensive data surveys and serves to identify progress and existing deficits in equality policy. The results show that the proportion of women in professorships rose from 1997 to 2022, but equality at higher grade remains a challenge.

A significant progress is the increase in women's proportion in junior professorships, which was equally equal at 50.9 percent in 2023. However, it shows that the higher the remuneration level, the lower the proportion of women. While in the W1 area, the lowest professorship, the proportion of women is 48.7 percent, it drops to 28.6 percent in the W2 range and only reaches 23.8 percent in the W3 area. This represents a clear challenge and raises questions about the structural inequalities in science.

The challenges of equality monitoring

The term "leaky pipeline" describes the gradual decrease in the quota for women at various qualification levels. This expression illustrates how women in the academic career are often more successful in early phases, but decrease in higher qualified positions. The equality monitor shows that despite a slight increase in the proportion of women in the sciences, there is a lack of incentive to promote this development. The essential points of the report suggest that the existing equality measures not only have to be continued, but also intensified in order to cause significant change.

The results of the GWK based on data from the Federal Statistical Office are not only an image of the current conditions, but also a call for action. The 2030 professor program is intended to contribute to introducing gender -sensitive appeal procedures and anchoring equality -promoting structures. A comprehensive cultural change within the science community is necessary to take responsibility and to ensure progress on the way to gender parity. These results and their importance for equality in science are central to future political and academic developments in Germany.

For a detailed analysis and further information on this topic, we refer to the detailed report www.zwd.info .