Push to bolster women's careers

Many women believe their research careers progress less well than those of men, as in many other occupations. But what has often been lacking is the evidence to back up their perceptions. The European Union has therefore backed efforts to gather data from member states that can provide useful comparisons between countries about the state of female researchers. Other studies are gathering opinions which can be compared with the statistical data in an effort to provide key information for future policy decisions. This is particularly so as they are a growing proportion of the research workforce. In 2001, women made up 34 per cent of those working in research in the public sector. This is only a slight increase from the 1999 figure of 32 per cent, but the growth rate for women was more than double that for men; 8 per cent compared to 3.1 per cent. The results reveal strong gender patterns with women under-represented in engineering and natural sciences. The contribution by women to scientific decision-making is illustrated by representation on scientific boards at academies and universities. With the exception of Portugal, women accounted for less than 50 per cent of board members in 2001 in all EU member states and associated countries. Data on the distribution of research funds reveal that male applicants are consistently slightly more successful than female applicants. The exceptions to the rule were Denmark, Ireland, the Nether-lands, Finland, Cyprus and Iceland, while women have the lowest funding success rates in the UK. Jo Turner, a laboratory scientist at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in the UK, has written that universities create far more barriers for women scientists than industry. She started her career in academia, working as part of an ecology research group linked to Kent University. But after a five-year career break to raise her family, she found she was in effect shut out. " I just couldn't get back in. " She retrained in molecular biology but found that going into a new area she had to start at the bottom. She believes that women need a boost after a career break. " There should be some sort of network, even if it is just a phone call from someone telling you that you can do it, " she says. One of the biggest obstacles to women's research careers is ignorance about their status compared with men. New efforts in Europe …