Blogs

The UK parliament's House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published the report of its inquiry on Women in Scientific Careers.  Key points:

• Despite imperatives and attempts to improve the under-representation of women, only 17 per cent of STEM professors are women.
• The UK economy needs more STEM workers and cannot meet the demand without increasing the numbers of women in STEM.
• The lack of gender diversity in STEM is the result of perceptions and biases combined with the impracticalities of combining a career with family.
• Diversity and equality training should be provided to all STEM undergraduate and postgraduate students. It should also be mandatory for all members of recruitment and promotion panels and line managers.
• Early career short term contracts are a barrier to job security and continuity of employment rights. This career stage coincides with  many women considering starting families - they are more likely than men to end their STEM career at this stage.
• Government should work with the higher education sector to review the academic career structure and increase the number of longer-term positions for post-doctoral researchers.

The European Commission has published the SHE report for 2012, giving breakdowns of gender stats for research and innovation.  Very slight improvements. The Campaign for Science and Engineering provides a commentary.
 

Article on current approaches and possible ways forward.  Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams
Understanding current causes of women's underrepresentation in science. PNAS published ahead of print February 7, 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1014871108