Why are there so few women in science? Introduction to the leaky pipeline research

Why are there so few women in science? Introduction to the leaky pipeline research

Women in ScienceTips, Tricks and AnswersSkill Training for Young Scientistsby Postgraduates’ International Network (PI-NET)Flying Puli Cafe (1072 Bp., Klauzál utca 13.)2014. május 8.

Paksi VeronikaResearch Assistant, Institute of Sociology, CSC, HASPhD student, Corvinus University BudapestMember, Women in Science AssociationE-mail: [email protected]

Supported by Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K 104707)Head of Research: Dr. Beáta Nagy, Associate Professor, Corvinus University Budapest

Table of content

1. The leaky pipeline metaphor

2. Development of the leaky pipeline research

3. Main obstacles to women’ career advancement during

• education• establishing early career• career building

7. Conclusion

The leaky pipeline metaphor

1. Berryman (1983) introduced the metaphore to show the gender imbalance in science

2. Horizontal segregation3. Vertical segregation:

– as career proceeds we find fewer and fewer women with higher scientific degrees or in higher positions

– even when there is a balanced gender proportion in MA or PhD level

– public and private sector 4. The metaphore conceptualized the career as a

narrowing pipeline from which women „leak out” to a greater extent than men

5. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

1. Number of degree holders → Reasons of the leaking

2. Structural barriers

(demand/push factors)→

Structural and individual barriers (supply/pull factors) (Xie and Shauman 2003)

• family and children (lifecourse approach)• attitudes and preferences (Hakim 2006)

3. Under- and postgraduate education →

Longer academic career:

elementary education → late career 4. Non-representative samples

Quantitative methods

Cross-sectional research→

Representative (quant.) samples

Qualitative methods

Longitudinal research

5. Lack of other dimensions

(Hughes 2001) →Ethnicity, religion and class(Eccles 2005; Hanson 2004)

6. STEM fields→

Disciplines within STEM

Humanities, social sciences

Development of the leaky pipeline research

Social problem Career stages Research field

1) Few girls in science majors

Education Secondary and tertiary education

2) Women tend to leave science after PhD

Career establishment

Entrance to the labor market

Family formation

3) Women’ career advancement is slow or gets stucked

Career building Employment -Career advancement

I. Education

1. Masculine worldview of science

2. Girls’ academic performance

3. Girls’ interest towards science

4. Curriculum

5. Pedagogy and methods

6. Chilly climate

7. Lack of female role models

8. Lack of networking and mentoring

(Blickenstaff 2005)

II. Career establishment1. Career and family establishment should be/are at the

same life period – majority of PhD: age of 30-36– Age of higher educated women at 1st child: over age of

30– Problem of balancing

2. Rigid, male career model: – white, male middle class male employment, 50ies-60ies – continuous employment, lock-step advancement, – Inflexible, though labor market changed foundamentally– academic clock ↔ women’ biological clock – punishments for career breaks

3. (More) postponement of career and family establishment– limited

4. Work-life imbalance

(Hewlett 2007, Wolfinger 2008,)

Work-life (im)balance*• Professional women (USA, Sweden)

– Children within 5 years after PhD = less choice for tenure position– Higher proportion of singles– Fewer children– First child at a later age– More childless (all compared to men)

• Top achieving professional women (every field, USA)– first child: early (in their 20ies) or late (age of 35-38), but no later– 20% have fertility problems– Childcare and household chores remain their resposibility – 24-31% career breaks due to caring for other family members

• Fertility differences by fields– physicians >attorneys > academics– care, teaching and culture > economics and technology

• Women’ attitudes and preferences– Women in STEM are family-oriented, as other women!

* from all research fields, not just STEM(Hewlett 2007, Lappegard 2005, Mason et al 2010, Wolfinger 2008, Hakim 2006)

1. Chilly climate

2. Lack of female role models

3. Lack of networking and mentoring

4. Discrimination, biases

5. Sandwich generation: situation of senior researchers: taking care of other family members

III. Career building

Conclusion

1. Pipeline is still leaking

2. Research of all 3 career stages is important

3. Obstacles are interrelated

4. More complex research are needed

Thank you for your attention!

Veronika Paksi

E-mail: [email protected]

Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K 104707)Head of Research: Beáta Nagy, Associate Professor, Corvinus University Budapest

Association of Hungarian Women in Science

Nők a Tudományban Egyesület tagjai olyan világban szeretnének élni, amely egyformán integrálja és elismeri mindkét nem tudását a társadalmi és technológiai innováció folyamataiban.

Misszió, cél:• Az egyesület tevékeny részt kíván vállalni a társadalmi innováció

azon hazai és  nemzetközi folyamataiban, amelyek hozzájárulnak ahhoz, hogy – a tudomány és innováció közelebb kerüljön a társadalom

egészéhez– minden fiatal tehetségének megfelelő tanulási lehetőséget és

szakmai életpályát választhasson– az esélyegyenlőség alapvető és kikerülhetetlen értékmérő

szemponttá váljon a kutatás-fejlesztés és innováció valamennyi területén

– megvalósuljon egy sokszínű, kiegyensúlyozott kutató-fejlesztői társadalom.

• Elérhetőségek: Szigeti Fanni, [email protected], • +36 30 656 14 89.

Selected references • Berryman, S (1983) Who will Do Science? Minority and Female Attainment of

Science and Mathematics Degrees: Trends and Causes. NY: Rockefeller Foundation• Carli, L. L. - Eagly, A. H. (2007) A társas befolyásban és a vezetővé válásban

mutatkozó nemi eltérések. In: Nagy B. (szerk.) Szervezet, menedzsment és nemek. Budapest: Aula

• Godfroy-Genin AA (2009) "Women's academic careers in technology: a comparative European perspective", Equal Opportunities International, 28(1): 80-97

• Hewlett, S. A. (2003) Creating a Life: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Having a Baby and a Career. New York: Miramax Books

• Hewlett, S. A. (2007) Off-ramps and On-ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success. Boston: Harvard Business School

• Hochschild A. (1989) The second shift. Working Families and the Revolution at Home. New York: Penguin Group

• Husu L-Koskinen P(2010): "What does it take to get to the top? Women at the top of technological research". In: Godfroy-Genin, Ann-Sophie (ed.): Women in Engineering and Technology Research. Berlin: Lit Verlag pp. 303-326.

• Mavriplis C, et al (2010) Mind the Gap: Women in STEM Career Breaks, Journal of Technology Management and Innovation, 5(1):140-151

• Ridgeway, C. L. - Correll, S. J. (2004) Motherhood as a Status Characteristic. Journal of Social Issues, 60(4) 683-700

• Wolfinger, et al (2008). “Problems in the Pipeline: Gender, Marriage, and Fertility in the Ivory Tower.” The Journal of Higher Education 79:388-405. Published, 2008.

Ajánlott irodalom

• Xie 2003 (empíria, közép-és felsőoktatás)• Lewis 2013 (fenntartható karrier)• Blickenstaff 2005 (összefoglaló, közép-és

felsőoktatás)• Bennett 2011 (kritika, okok bemutatása

karrierszakaszonként)• Harding S 1986 (tudomány feminista kritikája)• Margolis 2001 (rejtett tanterv a felsőoktatásban)• Hewlett 2007 (magasan képzett nők munka-

magánélet egyensúly)

Women’ representation in science (HU, %)

Data Year LevelEnginee

ringNatural

sci.Other All

KSH 2011 BA, MA 22,8 50,3 67,7 61,4

KSH2006-2011

PhD student 31,3 44,4 52,1 48,7

KSH2006-2011

Newly minted PhD 34,2 39,4 48,2 45,5

KSH 2011 R&D 21,3 23,1 43,9 31,7

NIH 2013 DSc ~11,0 ~16,6

NIH 2013Member of the Academy 3,0 4,4

Nők aránya a doktori képzésben (Mo) (%)

2001-2005 2006-2011Doktorandusz hallgató

Oklevelet szerzett

Doktorandusz hallgató

Oklevelet szerzett

Műszaki tudomány

26,2 (211 fő/év)

29,6(25 fő/év)

31,3 (218 fő/év)

34,2(27 fő/év)

Természet-tudomány

39,3(556 fő/év)

33,2(53 fő/év)

44,4(574 fő/év)

39,4(96 fő/év)

Többi

tudomány47,8 45,3 52,1 48,2

Összesen44,0(3361 fő/év)

42,5(408 fő/év)

48,7(3495 fő/év)

45,5(537 fő/év)

11,8 12,4 %

9,5

16,7 %

12,1

15,4 %

Saját számítás. Magyarországi adatok. Forrás: KSH

Sikeres védések aránya a

beiratkozottak tükrében

Nők aránya a K+F-ben (Mo) (%) 2008 2011

Műszaki tudományok - államháztartási 34,1 36,0 - felsőoktatási 18,2 19,4 - vállalkozási 23,6 20,9 összesen 22,6 21,3

Természettudományok - államháztartási 29,2 30,9 - felsőoktatási 24,3 25,6 - vállalkozási 14,4 15,4összesen 22,5 23,1

Többi tudományterület 43,3 43,9

MINDÖSSZESEN 33,0 31,7Forrás: KSH

Why to research women in science?

1. Social injustice: gender inequalities

2. Segregation: reproduces inequalities

3. Loss of human capital

4. Waste of talents

5. Lack of women’ (and other minorities’) approach: the more diverse approach there is in science the better

6. Lack of engineers ⇔ economic development of industrialized economies based on science and technology