Draw the Line! International Conference, Copenhagen 2008
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Draw the Line! International Conference, Copenhagen 2008 Papers, proceedings and recommendations Draw the Line! International Conference, Copenhagen 2008 Papers, proceedings and recommendations Edited by Cathrine Hasse, Stine Trentemøller and Anne Bjerregaard Sinding Draw the Line! International Conference, Copenhagen 2008 Papers, proceedings and recommendations is edited by Cathrine Hasse, Stine Trentemøller & Anne Bjerregaard Sinding ISBN: 978–9949–11–973–8 Copyright: The editors, 2008 Printed in Estonia at Tartu University Press, Tartu www.tyk.ee Contents Co-ordinator’s foreword ..................................................................... 7 Introduction ........................................................................................ 9 Part I Conference Proceedings 1.0 Women in Physical Science. Lone Svinth .............................. 19 2.0 The UPGEM Conference Welcome Speech. Lars Qvortrup .44 3.0 Much Information but Little Progress – UPGEM conference speech. Nina Smith ................................................................ 47 4.0 In the Shadow of Stereotypes. Rossella Palomba ................. 51 5.0 A Closer Look at Estonia from Inside. Imbi Tehver .............. 57 6.0 Similarities and Differences in Female Physicists’ Professional Lives – UPGEM conference speech. Pia Thörngren Engblom ........................................................ 60 7.0 When Did We Agree We Were Playing Backgammon Today? – UPGEM conference speech. Anja C. Andersen ..... 64 8.0 A Take on Possible Solutions to Gender Equality Problems in Academia – UPGEM conference speech. Jonas Dahl ...... 69 9.0 Knowledge, Institutions and Gender: An East-West Comparative Study “KNOWING” – UPGEM conference speech. Anne Kovalainen ....................................................... 72 10.0 Research or Children? The Grand Dilemma of Female Researchers. Lisbeth Dons ..................................................... 78 5 11.0 Women in Science. Experiences from Haldor Topsoe A/S & Energy Research Council (ERC). Jens Rostrup-Nielsen ....... 86 12.0 Social Changes and Changes in Science Management: the Estonian Case. Endla Lohkivi .......................................... 93 13.0 Motivation for Physics. Agata Heymowski ............................ 99 Part II Recommendations 14.0 Concluding UPGEM Recommendations ............................... 103 Annexes Annex I: Summary of the Five UPGEM National Reports ............ 124 Annex II: Table of the Three Scientific Culture Types: Hercules, Caretakers, Worker Bees ................................................. 140 Annex III: Table of Female Physics Ph.D.s ...................................... 141 Annex IV: Survey Regarding Physicists in Academia ..................... 142 Annex V: The Proportion of Women in Different Physics Departments .................................................................... 150 Annex VI: Notes on UPGEM Partners and Proceedings Contributors .................................................................... 155 6 Co-ordinator’s Foreword In 2004, six partners-to-be institutions in five European countries, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Finland and Denmark, formed a consortium with the aim of gaining a better understanding of a basic research question: why does statistical data show that we find more female physicists in the southern and eastern part of Europe compared to the northern part? In May 2008, we presented our results at the international conference “Draw the Line!” in Copenhagen. In the period in-between partners and research assistants have become much wiser – not just on our research question but also on the academic traditions, different values and histories of the partner countries. It has been a fascinating journey into both a Europe and an academic world in transition. We believe our project is part of an important documentation of these rapid and complex changes and we were thus proud to acquaint a larger audience with the results of the UPGEM project in the two publications Draw the Line! Universities as workplaces for male and female researchers in Europe and Break the Pattern! A critical enquiry into three scientific workplace cultures: Hercules, Caretakers and Worker Bees, at our homepage www.upgem.dk and lastly at the international conference. The UPGEM partners and research assistants acknowledge they have not accomplished this result alone. Therefore, I would like to thank all the speakers at the UPGEM conference, the researchers and EU-politicians who have visited the project from time to time and been willing to discuss our research with us. These people include: Lars Qvortrup, Dean of the Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus; Nina Smith, Vice-Rector for academic affairs at the University of Aarhus; Professor Rossella Palomba, Italy; Imbi Tehver, Doctor Emeritus in Physics at the Institute of Physics at University of Tartu, Estonia; Pia Thörngren Engblom, Docent in Nuclear Physics at Uppsala University; Anja C. Andersen, Associate Professor at the Dark Cosmology Centre, University of Copenhagen and Chair of the Network for Women in Physics (NorWiP), Denmark; Jonas Dahl, a Danish politician and member of Parliament; Lisbeth Dons, research assistant in the WOMEN-CORE project at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies; Anne Kovalainen, Professor of entrepreneurship 7 Co-ordinator’s Foreword at Turku School of Economics, Finland; Jens Rostrup-Nielsen, member of the Board of the European Research Council, former Director of the R&D Division and Member of Executive Board at Haldor Topsoe A/S. They have all contributed to this volume. Secondly, we would like to thank Malou Aamund, a Danish politician and member of Parliament; Anu Laas, Professor and Head of Unit of Gender Studies at the University of Tartu, Estonia and Jeffrey Scott Saunders, M.A. International Affairs and M.A. History from Women-CORE for their contributions at the conference. The faculty at the Danish School of Education (DPU) and not least the Culture Team as well as the student helpers who all contributed to the success of the conference. Our thanks must also include all the engaged participants at the conference, who not only contributed by listening but gave new insights and food for thought through very active participations in our workshops dealing with a) University, Management and Workplace Culture; b) Industrial Research at the Mode II University; c) Gender Equality at University as Workplace; d) Science Policy & National Politics; e) Identity & Stereotypes in Natural Sciences; f) Cultural Diversity in the Conception of Work & Family and g) Drop Outs in Physics, other Sciences in Academia and the Private Sector. Research colleagues at Aarhus University and at other universities in Denmark also deserve a warm thank you for their interest in our project over the years. In Denmark this applies especially to the colleagues in the former ‘Gender in Academia’ project: Professor Dorte Marie Søndergaard, Associate Professor Lis Højgaard and Associate Professor Inge Henningsen as well as our colleagues Professor Mariane Hedegaard, Professor Seth Chaiklin and Professor Sharon Traweek who have brought valuable insights to the project. I would furthermore like to give special thanks to Britta Thomsen, Danish Member of the European Parliament, who through her keen interest in the project made it possible for us to present preliminary UPGEM results at the public hearing on ‘Women and Science’ in The European Parliament, December 18th 2007. Many others should be thanked but the space prevents me. However, I would lastly like to thank our programme officer at the Euro- pean Commission, Florence Bouvret as well as Delphine Poire and Emma- nuelle Causse from the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS) for their kind and apposite help with the UPGEM recommendations. Co-ordinator Cathrine Hasse 8 Introduction Cathrine Hasse Over the next decades the general decrease in the population will affect all sectors of higher education and research in Europe. The natural sciences are encountering increasing problems with recruitment, especially of female physics students. Moreover, it is a matter of utmost concern that well- qualified female scientists seldom reach the same top-level positions as their male colleagues but often leave the research system prematurely. These are facts that have been well documented in a number of studies, notably the SHE figures (European Commission, 2004a; European Com- mission, 2006), the Helsinki Group Reports (Rees, 2002), the ETAN and ENWISE Reports (European Commission, 2004b; European Commission, 2005; European Commission, 2008), the European Commission (2000), Laurila and Young (2001), Carlson (2000) and Barinaga (1994). Though the overall picture is dismal, an interesting configuration of cultural diversity appears in a gendered map of physicists. It is comparatively easier to attract female students in eastern and southern European countries than it is in the North. Moreover, the career paths of male and female physicists seem to follow different patterns according to national context. The primary objectives in the UPGEM project are to identify relevant local cultural historical processes behind this diversity and to get a better understanding of the “brain-drain” of female physicists, who, more often than their male physicists, never make it to the top even though they possess the same formal qualifications as their male colleagues. The acronym UPGEM stands for Understanding Puzzles in the Gen- dered European Map1.