Gender equity in higher education: why and how? A case study of gender issues in a science faculty

Abstract

At a time when more and more natural science subjects are attracting an increasing number of women (chemistry for example) physics remains a male stronghold. It is not easy to understand this phenomenon or the anomaly that over-representation of males in physics faculties is more likely to occur in countries known for their attempts at equalizing opportunities for women. Sweden, for example, has a parliament in which 40% of its members are women and yet the average percentage of women lecturers in physics faculties is about half of that. In Sweden today women professors of physics (both appointed and promoted) typically represent 10% or less of the total professorial staff. In this paper we report on a qualitative case study of gender equity in a large physics faculty in a Swedish university. In order to locate our study in a more general social and political context we look at Swedish legislation that seeks to equalize opportunities for women in higher education. The rest of the study focuses on a brief review of research in the area of gender issues in higher education and an analysis of interviews with three women in physics: one a professor, one a lecturer and the third a PhD student. The analysis discusses why the current disproportion exists, if it is a good or bad thing for physics and physicists and how one might rectify any perceived problems in terms or gender relations and gender equity.

Keywords:

• Gender equity
• Engineering education
• Physics

About the authors

Susanne Viefers is associate professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oslo, Norway. She grew up in Germany but moved to Norway at the age of 15. In 1997 she received her PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Oslo. Subsequently she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg (Sweden), before returning to Oslo in for a permanent position in 2002.

Michael Christie is an Australian who now works in Sweden at Chalmers University of Technology. He has been with the Centre for Digital Media and Higher Education for 6 years now and runs courses in pedagogy for Chalmers teachers as well as carrying out research and pedagogical projects. He has a PhD in Education from Monash University in Australia and has been mainly interested in research into muticultural issues and issues concerning adult and higher education.

Fariba Ferdos is a PhD student who is completing a cross-disciplinary degree in nanoscience and education. She has completed her licentiate in nanoscience in the area of InAs quantum dots for laser applications. The educational part of her thesis is a reflective analysis of engineering education that compares and contrasts engineering education in Iran and Sweden from a multicultural and gender perspective. She expects to graduate in October 2005.