Women Physicists and Grant Financing.

The Results of the Last Decade in Russia

Nelly I. Didenko a, Eduard A. Tropp a, Galina Ya. Merkulovab, Renata F. Vitman c

a,bSt. Petersburg Research Center RAS, RussiacSt. Petersburg Technical University, Russia

d A.F.Ioffe Institute RAS, Russia

Agenda

• Feminization of Russian Science in the past decade

• Participation of Women-Physicists in projects of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research

• Gender Statistics in Physics and in Science.

• Why it is important to increase the participation of women in physics in Russia

• Woman-Physicists in the period of Crisis of Science

1.Feminization of Russian Science in the Last Decade

• the percentage of women postgraduates in Russia increased on average from 35% to 47%

• the proportion of women scientists increased:

1961 37.3%

1988 40.3%

1990 53.0%

2000 54.0%

• physics&mathematics - the proportion of women-scientists 35.5%

• the proportion of women-scientists all over the world is 6-10%, USA -22.4%

2. Participation of Women-Physicists in Projects of the Russian Foundation for

Basic Research (RFBR)

20 30 40 50 60 70 800

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Male Female

Num

ber

of s

cien

tists

of

give

n ag

e

Age

3. Gender Statistics in Physics

Researchers PhD Doctoral Degree

/Years 1990 1993 1990 1993 1990 1993

All Science 1 090922 740498 183105 156480 24027 30238

F 555582 377328 54609 47305 3565 4768

M 535340 363170 128496 109175 20462 25470

% 51 51 30 30 15 16

Physics 74496 69591 21009 20513 3672 5106

F 25526 24724 3770 3517 293 327

M 48970 44867 17239 16996 3379 4779

% 34 35.5 18 17 8 6

Women-Participants of R&D in St. Petersburg Research Center RAS

(without PhD degree)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Aged 70 and above

60-69

50-59

40-49

30-39

Under 29

Women Number of Respective Age, %

B

Women-Participants of R&D in St.Petersburg Research Center

RAS (with PhD degree)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Aged 70and above

60-69

50-59

40-49

30-39

Under 29

Women number of respective age, %

Age

C

Doctor of Sciences Women -Participants of R&D in St.

Petersburg Research Center RAS

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Under 29

Aged 70and above

60-69

50-59

40-49

30-39

Women number of respective age, %

Age

D

Distribution of Institutes According to Grant Received in St. Petersburg

Research Center RAS

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

101-

110

61-7

0

51-6

0

41-5

0

31-4

0

21-3

0

11-2

0

6-103-5

1-2

BP

ropo

tion

of in

stitu

tes

(with

the

res

pect

ive

num

ber

of g

rant

s)

Number of grants for an institute

4.Why It is Important to Increase the Participation of Women in Physics in

Russia

• What are some of the joys and satisfactions have women had in their careers in physics?

• Are there particular aspects of the culture in Russia that made it possible?

• Research itself, successful experiments, professional recognition, working in a team with other physicists and the opportunity to teach students and see their good results

• There are a lot of scientific centers and institutes in Russia, that’s why scientists from different regions can cooperate in research, meet at conferences and inform each other about the latest findings in physics.

The Cultural, Social and Professional Features of a Woman’s

Career in Physics in Russia• To Russia it is now peculiar

• What are the major barriers for women achieving successful careers in physics in Russia?

• The ways, in which physicists, must help to alleviate the barriers

• What initiatives have been taken in Russia to attract more women to physics?

• Low salary, old equipment, shortage of new journals and travel grants to International conferences

• inadequate job placement, childcare and household

• International programs, contacts with physicists all over the world

• Promotion of science at schools

5.Woman-Physicists in the Period of Crisis of Science

• Participation in International conferences, International projects, learning by foreign experience in science writing, presentation of scientific results, in grant applications; establishing new non governmental associations of physicists and women of science; carrying out International conferences and seminars in Russia

Co-founders of the St.Petersburg Women Association of Science

at the Conference “Women and Management”

At the International conference:The Role of Women in Science and

the Humanities

Conclusion

What Can We do Together?

• To establish permanent e-Network of women-physicists all over the world

• To help find Partners for International Projects

• To Publish International experience of women in physics, the ways of overcoming «glass ceiling»

• To teach women-physicist the art of presentation of scientific results

References:

• Science in the Russian Federation/Stat. Annuals/M.,1995, 104p. (in Russian)

• M. Alfimov, V. Minin, A. Libkind «The Country of Science - RFBR» (in Russian). Vestnik RFFI, #2, June 2000, p.5-29

• N.I. Didenko, A.B. Petrovsky, E.A. Tropp, Yu. N. Fokichev «Women-scientists of St. Petersburg and grant financing. (to be published in the book “Petersburg pictures of scientific world” , StP RC RAS, StP, 2002)

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Head of RFBR Department of Methods and Analysis Vladimir A. Minin, senior specialist of RFBR Alexandr N. Libkind, vice-rector of St. Petersburg State University Vladimir N. Troyan and the head of personnel department of St. Petersburg Research Center of RAS Yuri N. Fokichev, for the data which they kindly provided to us.