Katherine Schofield - breast screening physicist,
Christie Hospital NHS Trust, UK. Image courtesy www.wisecampaign.
org.uk
The data, based on 2004 figures, show that the vast majority of Europe’s scientifically qualified women are working in knowledge-based services. They make up 77 per cent of the workforce in areas including financial services, education and health.
Europe has long bemoaned a failure to attract women to study science. Now that as many women as men are doing so, female talent is not being deployed in scientific research or other technology-based jobs.
Part of the reason for this may be blatant sexual discrimination, according to research released earlier this month at the British Association Science Festival at the University of East Anglia, UK.
According to the research there is an average pay gap in the UK
between men and women academics working in science, engineering and
technology of £1000, rising to over £4000 for professors.
Career paths
The researcher Sara Connolly, of East Anglia’s School of Economics, then analysed data on the career paths of over 7,000 scientists across academia and the private sector to uncover what proportion of the pay disparity is due to women being younger, more junior or employed in different types of institution or subject areas.
Her preliminary results suggest that almost a quarter (23 per cent) of the pay gap is “unexplained” and may be due to discrimination against women.
There is gender parity in the population studying science with a 50:50 split in the sexes among students. This figure drops to 20 percent women in academic staff in the sciences overall, with the percentage varying from 9 percent in physical sciences to 33 per cent in biological sciences.
The gender gap widens with seniority, with women accounting for just 16 per cent of professors in the sciences. The disparities could not be accounted for in terms of seniority, age or employer type, instead pointing to sex discrimination.
“This confirms what many working women scientists have long felt,” said Connolly. “My research provides sound facts and figures, rather than anecdotal evidence and hearsay, which I hope will be used to develop and implement effective policies to tackle this problem.”
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