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Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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Women & Science: Statistics and Indicators [24 May 2005]
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/index_en.html

   * Exactly how many women are there in European research?
   * Are there more women than men?
   * How are women distributed across European research?
   * Is European research affected by a gender bias?
   * Are women interested in different areas than men? Do they go on to work in the fields in which they have studied?
   * Can they expect the same rewards and benefits from a scientific career as their male counterparts?
   * Are there barriers to women's productivity within the scientific system?
   * Do women achieve and produce more than men?
   * Why are women less likely than men to seek research funding?
   * How are women scientists regarded by their peers, both male and female?

   Who defines the rules of the scientific game?

Although it is still not possible to answer all of these questions, the following pages contain information that can help us begin to understand the answers. You can download the latest indicators -- http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/downindi_en.html -- available on the subject of women and science for the 25 EU Member States and the 7 countries associated to the European Union's 5th and 6th Framework Programmes. If you want to examine these data for your own analysis, you can also download the raw statistics --http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/downstat_en.html

Where do these data come from?

For many years, both women scientists and policy makers have been asking for data about women's participation in the different scientific fields. The need to build indicators is acknowledged in the <http://www.cordis.lu/improving/women/communication.htm>Commission's Communication, in two Council's Resolutions (<http://www.cordis.lu/improving/women/resolution.htm>20 May 1999 and <http://www.cordis.lu/improving/women/documents.htm>26 June 2001) and Council Conclusions (18 April 2005), as well as a <ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/improving/docs/g_wo_parl_resol_en.pdf>Resolution of the European Parliament. In order to approach the lack of sex-disaggregated data on scientists, the Commission has developed a double-track strategy:

   * The "top-down" approach -- http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/topdown_en.html
   * The "bottom-up" approach -- http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/bottomup_en.html

The Women and Science Unit in collaboration with the Statistical Correspondents of the Helsinki Group on Women and Science and Eurostat have been collecting data on women scientists for nearly 2 years. These pages contain consolidated statistical information from the cross-national perspective for all available years since 1990 on a variety of themes -- http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/women/wssi/explanote_en.html

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                *
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