Leadership gap for women scientists in Switzerland¶

work-in-progress

Joao Martins

The "leaky" pipeline¶

It is well-known that women are underrepresented in leadership positions. Science is no exception. The "leaky" pipeline refers to the overly disproportionate loss of women throughout careers in science.

If science careers are a "leaky" pipeline for women scientists, then the share of women leading science projects is expected to be lower than the share of women employed in science projects.

See also:

  1. Leaky pipeline for women scientists dries up after they win first big grant, in Nature, 2018
  2. A Leak in the Academic Pipeline, in Frontiers, 2019

Looking for evidence¶

The Swiss National Science Foundation, the leading public science funding agency in Switzerland, makes its data freely available with:

  • over 70k science projects, spanning across 50 years
  • over 100k scientists
  • function and gender of each scientist

Source: p3.snf.ch

Share of women employed in science projects¶

The share of women employed in science projects raised from 38% in 2000 to 46% in 2019.

plot 1

Share of women leading science projects¶

The share of women leading science projects raised from 15% in 2000 to 33% in 2019.

plot 2

Leadership gap between men and women¶

The leadership gap between men and women appears to be steadily closing.

plot 3

Next steps¶

Next steps:

  • domain-by-domain figures

Further reading:

  • Promotion of women by the SNSF
  • Fix the leaky pipeline