The book reporting on the International Science Council study "A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?" by Marie-Françoise Roy, Collette Guillopé, Mark Cesa, Rachel Ivie, Susan White, Helena Mihaljevic, Lucía Santamaría, Regina Kelly, Merrilyn Goos, Silvina Ponce Dawson, Igle Gledhill, and Mei-Hung Chiu has appeared.

The book reports on a three-year project (2017–2019) funded by the International Science Council and involving eleven scientific partner organizations. The main goal of the project was to investigate the gender gap in STEM disciplines from different angles, globally and across disciplines. The authors have performed (i) a global survey of scientists with more than 32,000 responses; (ii) an investigation of the effect of gender in millions of scientific publications; and (iii) the compilation of best-practice initiatives that address the gender gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences at various levels. It is concluded that the gender gap is very real in science and mathematics.

The authors present methodologies, insights, and tools that have been developed throughout the project, as well as a set of recommendations for different audiences: instructors and parents; educational institutions; scientific unions and other organizations responsible for science policy.

A Webinar with Chelsea Bock, Mark Cesa, Helena Mihaljevic, Merrilyn Goos, and Mei-Hung Chiu took place on September 1, 2020, and granted the possibility to speak directly with the authors on the different aspects of their study.

A link to the study : https://gender-gap-in-science.org/project-book-booklet/

The book can be downloaded from https://zenodo.org/record/3882609

The 8-page booklet can be downloaded from https://gender-gap-in-science.org/promotional-materials/

November, 1st 2017 - American Institute of Physics (AIP)

There is a difference between male and female physics faculty salaries and the culture of physics is partly to blame, according to an article that is available for free this month from Physics Today, the world's most influential and closely followed magazine devoted to physics and the physical sciences community.

The article, "Salaries for female physics faculty trail those for male colleagues," identifies key factors influencing the gender pay gap and offers potential solutions that include changes in the culture in physics departments. The article is available at https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3760.

Staff writer Toni Feder combined data from a 2010 report, “Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty” (https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12062/gender-differences-at-critical-transitions-in-the-careers-of-science-engineering-and-mathematics-faculty), from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that looked at hundreds of institutions with unpublished data from the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Statistical Research Center (SRC). AIP is the publisher of Physics Today.

What the unpublished data show is that female faculty members in physics have lower salaries compared to their equally qualified male colleagues. "The model says that if we have two people who are identical in every way, the woman will make, on average, 6 percent less than the man," said Susan White, assistant director of SRC, quoted in the Physics Today article.

The National Academies' study also found that there were inequities between men and women. Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronomer Claude Canizares, who co-chaired the study, explained that while universities do not purposely discriminate against women and minorities, inequities nevertheless persist.

According to the Physics Today article, other studies and observations support the data, with two key reasons for the gender gap disparity. First, women are less aggressive in their salary negotiations and also less likely to ask for a raise during their tenure at an institution. The second reason comes from the fact that men are overrepresented in some scientific fields, which introduces an implicit bias in university departments.

"Boys in the department give money to boys in the department,” said a senior researcher quoted anonymously in the Physics Today article.

To close the pay gap, MIT Professor Emerita Nancy Hopkins suggests that senior female faculty members need to serve on the hiring, promotion and editorial boards that are positions of power at most universities.

Efforts must also include male support to promote women and minorities in science. “It’s hard to break a glass ceiling by banging your head on it from below," Canizares said. "It’s easier to break it from above with a sledge hammer."

https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3760

On 15 December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Read the complete article in e-EPS.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: March 14, 2015.

Special Issue Information
The Asian Journal of Physics invites authors of original articles and reviews exploring all aspects and issues, related to women in physics, from both present and historical perspective, to submit them to a Special Issue focused on this subject.
Until the 20th century, women did not have access to higher education institutions. Hence, with a very few exceptions, it was impossible for them to contribute to scientific discovery. There has been a gradual change in this trend since the beginning of the 20th century. Nevertheless, even nowadays, women’s representation in physics lags behind most other science disciplines, making up about 13% of faculty members in all physics degree–granting departments.
The Special Issue of the Asian Journal of Physics Vol 24, No 3, 2015 will focus on all aspects of the work and the impact of the women in physics. All contribution to this area are welcome.

View details about this on the website of the ASIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS.