University of Helsinki - Research news
Women technology researchers in the spotlight
In Finland, the number of women in academia is among the highest in Europe.
More than half of the researchers and lecturers in Finnish universities are women. Yet in engineering sciences, the numbers are not that impressive: in the private sector, less than one-fifth of researchers are women, and in most EU Member States 95 per cent of professors are men. The absence of women in the engineering disciplines stems from the low number of women completing first degrees in technology and engineering: only one-fifth of the graduates are women.
"The male domination of engineering sciences is a result of many different factors, such as the options people take in upper secondary school. In Finland, a woman studying technology and engineering is, however, more likely than her male colleagues to continue to the doctoral level," says Liisa Husu, D.Soc.Sc., from the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki.
Husu is in charge of the Finnish contribution to the extensive international EU-funded PROMETEA project, a comparative research project on women engineers¿ research careers in the academic, industrial and public sectors. The project involves partners from 12 European countries and Chile.
The project focuses on the factors affecting women engineers¿ research careers, ranging from organisational cultures to research funding. Its aim is also to draw up recommendations for stakeholders in the field. Differences between countries create interesting scenarios for comparison.
"Finnish specialities that will be highlighted will include research organisations' equality plans, whereas day care provided by a university, for instance, could prove an important form of support in some other country."
Securing sustainable technological development requires a diverse and creative body of researchers. Increasing the number of woman researchers in engineering sciences and industrial research is one of the key goals in the science policy programmes of the EU.
"Technological development has a strong impact on everyone's daily lives and shapes the progress of future societies. That is why it is so important that the body of researchers steering that development is as varied as possible, and here I am not just referring to gender," Husu concludes.
Text: Salla Laaksonen
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
Translation: Valtasana Oy
