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| IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics, Paris, March 7-9, 2002: |
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RESOLUTIONS
The working group on "Women in Physics" of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
IUPAP
organised the first international conference
on Women in Physics, which took place in Paris, France, March 7-9, 2002.
WHY?
It is widely acknowledged that the global scientific workforce is under utilising a large percentage
of the available talent pool.
Altough the situation differs widely from country to country, there is a remarkable consistency in one
sobering pattern: the percentage of women in physics, physical science and engineering in all countries decreases
markedly with each step up the academic ladder and with each level of promotion in industrial and government
laboratories. If nor reversed, the situation will have serious consequences for the future as all countries become
more dependent on the availability of a large, scientifically trained workforce.
In 1999, IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) in
recognition of this international concern, established a Working Group on Women in Physics. In addition to
organising the Conference, this group is unter-taking an international benchmarking study on Women in Physics.
Demographic information on education and career attainment is being collected from countries in all parts of the
world and will be analysed by professional statisticians. The results of this effort will be reported and
discussed at the Conference in Paris.
An understanding of the situation in physics is likely to produce insights and approaches applicable broadly to
other fields and professions where under-representation is servere.
Teams of 3-5 physicists (females and males at different stages in their careers) from
67 coutries all over the world have been invited to Paris. In total more than 300 female physicists attended
the conference and discussed in small discussion groups the following topics:
1) Attracting girls into physics
2) Launching a successful physics career
3) Getting women into the physics leadership structure nationally and internationally
4) Improving the intitutional climate for women in physics
5) Learning from regional differences
6) Balancing family and career
The Austrian team under the supervision of Dr. C. Ambrosch-Draxl
(University of Graz,
head of the working group "Women and
Physics" of the Austrian Physical Society) analysed the situation
in Austria and figured out, that we have approximately 20% women among physics students, but we have
only ONE female full professor in physics in Austria (18 universities in the whole country). That is
Dr. M. Ritsch-Marte
(Universitity of Innsbruck, also in the Austrian team
and member of the working group of the Austrian Physical Society). In the European average Austria is found
in the last third concerning the number of femal physicist, which are found in higher or leadership positions
at Austrian universities. However, this phenomenon is globally present, as it turned out at the Paris conference
very clearly!
The results of the small discussion groups have been summarized in the conference resolutions, which
are addressed to different institutions, such as schools, universities, governments, scientific
communities, sponsors, industry and the IUPAP. Among many others the following resolutions
have been formulated:
*) Girls should be given the same opportunities and encouragement as boys to learn physics in shools.
*) The selection procedures and criteria for grants, scholarhsips or university positions have to be
transparent and equal for male and female candidates.
*) Universities must examine their policies and practices to make sure that they promote equity.
*) Women need to be included in university and physics department governance, particularly on key policy
committees.
*) Where women are under-represented on physics faculties, more women should be hired.
*) Enough child-care facilities close to the working place are required to enhance women's opportunities for
success.
*) Flexible leaves of absence and working schedules for both, male and female, are necessary to
share the responsibility for child rearing.
*) Create working groups in all scientific communities, which promote women.
*) Governments should promote and sponsor only those institutions, which
follow a policy of equity.
How important all these topics are can be seen on the huge number of conference participants all over
the world, as well as on the cooperation of many men,e.g., Burton Richter (president of the IUPAP),
W. Erdelen (assistent director - General fpr Natural Sciences UNESCO) or Philippe Busquin (Commissinoer for
Research of the European Union). Moreover, the very famous journal "Physics World" has devoted the
title page to "Women in Physics".
Another consequence of the international conference in Paris will be the creation of an european
female physicist network, that would appreciate the participation of many physicists, MALE and FEMALE.
The team of the different countries will continue to work on collecting data and making statistics to study
the distribution of women in physics. The reports of all team, as well as the summaries of the
discussion groups will be published in the proceedings or the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
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Contribution of the Austrian team:
Poster
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