When she was in high school, Revital Ariel was asked why she should study physics and recommended that she study biology. Today, with the completion of her studies in electrical and computer engineering, she encourages the advancement of girls and women in science and technology. Discrimination against women in the fields of science, it turns out in a new report, is still great
Tamara Traubman
Revital Ariel recently completed a path that not many women follow - a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering. Ariel, 25 years old, financed her studies with the help of a scholarship from the Ministry of Science, which is awarded to outstanding female students and aims to increase the number of women in scientific and technological fields, which are still considered "masculine" and the proportion of women in them is less than 20%. Among the undergraduate students in electrical engineering today, only about 15% are women. These days Ariel works in a company in the field of communication systems and internet.
In exchange for the scholarship, the students volunteer to engage in some activity to promote girls and women in science and technology. Ariel chose to initiate a girl in the XNUMXth grade in mathematics and physics. The main achievement for Dida is that her apprentice decided to major in physics in high school.
"The point for me was to present her with the possibilities that lie ahead of her. In high school, girls are told that 'physics is hard' and 'why do you need it', so there should also be someone who presents this option. Physics has such a masculine image, but it's not more difficult." Ariel was also asked in high school why she should study physics and they recommended that she study biology. In the end she had to complete before university.
Irena Cohen-Abramovitz, another fellow of the Ministry of Science, founded a class of girls at Kogel High School in Holon and taught them physics. In the summer, she also gave reinforcement classes to students who had matriculated in mathematics. At that time, Cohen-Abramovitz heard about a research project that was done among high school girls and it showed that in mixed classes for boys and girls in the real subjects, girls participate less in the classes.
Cohen-Abramovich, 25 years old, recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering at the Academic Institute in Holon. There, too, women were a minority. "Out of about 100 students, we were no more than 15 girls. I encountered a lot of different attitudes towards boys and girls from some of the lecturers." After graduating, she looked for a job in research and development in electrical and electronics engineering. She and a schoolmate sent resumes. To him they returned, to her - there were few references. "Our data is quite similar: we both have good grades, we worked on a joint project and we both have no previous experience. But still, there are companies that are reluctant to hire a woman in the field."
At the "Women and Science" conference, held recently in collaboration with the British Council, a report by the Council for the Advancement of Women in Science and Technology was presented, which clarifies how severe the discrimination against women in the fields of science is. The report firstly provides a broad picture of the status and place of women in science and technology in Israel - from high school to universities or industry.
In all fields of science, both in academia and in industry, women are regularly discriminated against and excluded from the centers of power. Discrimination is already felt in high school; Although girls excel more than boys in almost all science studies, in subjects such as electronics and computers and physics their rate ranges from 12% to 29%.
Even as university students they are still a minority in fields considered difficult. In physics, for example, about 36% of undergraduate students are women, and in the academic staff, only 8% are. In the life sciences the situation is less serious, but still, although women are the majority of the students (63%), they only make up 21% of the academic staff.
"The percentage of women among the members of the senior faculty in 2001 in all ranks and in all fields was about 24%," write the authors of the report, Hagit Maser-Yeron, professor of electrical engineering from Tel Aviv University and chairman of the Council for the Advancement of Women, and Shirley Kahanovitz, the council's coordinator. Despite the enlightened image of the academy, so far not a single woman has served as university president and there have only been two rectors (Prof. Aliza Shanhar in Haifa and Prof. Nili Cohen in Tel Aviv). The report lacks data on the most discriminated against group in academia: Oriental women.
Although there is a trend of slow improvement in the proportion of women in the academy, the report states, the trend of the "scissors diagram" is maintained: as you go up the ranks, the proportion of women decreases while the proportion of men increases accordingly. In the last decade, more than 360 researchers were promoted to the rank of full professor in universities. The number of women promoted to this rank is 78 - only about 20%. The rank of full professor is not only a matter of honor and a higher financial income, it also gives "the possibility to influence through membership in the university senate and the various committees", write the authors of the report.
"Promoting women in science and technology is an economic and cultural interest, and not just a social one," write Messer-Yeron and Kahanovitz. "The economy requires talented personnel in science and technology. The potential of researchers will increase if more women turn to these fields; The failure to integrate talented women is an economic loss for the country, which invests many resources in education; Women scientists will contribute to the expansion of the fields of science - both in new fields of research and in the different way in which the research will be done."
The popular explanation for the low proportion of women in the senior faculty is that the promotion of women in the higher ranks today reflects the historical situation and the relatively small number of female students in the past. Over time, according to this argument, the situation will naturally change.
However, these explanations are not sufficient, the report claims. Already about 30 years ago, women were 39% of doctoral degree graduates in the biological sciences, and consistently, in the last 20 years, women are about half of the degree graduates. The accepted excuses also do not explain the "unfortunate fact that even in the academic colleges, which were established in Israel and recruited faculty in the last decade alone, the proportion of women in the senior academic faculty was about 25%, a significantly small proportion relative to the number of potential candidates (with a doctor's degree), who were available during this period" .
There is no data on the state of science in hi-tech and bio-technology companies. However, from a survey of managers in the industry, commissioned in 2000 by the Association of Manufacturers, it appears that the rate of female managers is only 17%. Rina Pridor, founder and director of the "Technological Incubator Program" of the Ministry of Education, presented data on the situation of women in the incubators at the conference. The program aims to help people turn a technological idea in its infancy into a commercial product and establish a new business for the purpose of commercializing it. One of the outstanding successes that came out of the greenhouses is Compugen. In practice, women hardly benefit from this option: only 7% of those admitted to the incubators are women. There are 23 greenhouses, only one is managed by a woman.
"The prevailing position, when talking about equality between women and men, is the liberal position," the report states, "There is no law that prevents women from choosing any scientific academic track, there is no obstacle that applies to women advancing in jobs and reaching a senior position. This approach leads to the conclusion that there is no need to act actively to promote equality, but only to stand guard and make sure that there are no discriminatory laws. The liberal approach talks about 'equality of opportunity' only. However, this approach does not address the reality that women and men have different constraints. Family duties still fall mainly on the woman, which makes it difficult for her to move up the promotion track.
"The liberal approach to equality also ignores the social and cultural influence that operates on different groups: while men receive reinforcements - already at a young age - to be admitted to the 'difficult' and higher quality courses, women receive the opposite messages: to prefer the 'interesting' humanitarian course over the realistic course tapping".
The situation in Israel is not much different from European countries, says Messer-Yeron, but there the rate of improvement is faster. In 1999, the European Parliament decided to adopt as a policy the promotion of women in science and set a target of 40% women in research and development programs. In Israel, the Council for the Advancement of Women was established only in 2000. According to Kahanovitz, "Due to the minority of women in senior positions, most of the women who reach senior positions find themselves cut off from the information circles due to not belonging to the 'men's club.' The great achievement of the council is in the creation of the network between women from different fields, which enables the transfer of information, cooperation and empowerment".
On top of that, an advisor to the president for women's advancement matters was appointed in all the universities. The advisors collect data on the situation of women in their universities and initiate actions for their advancement. The Science Committee of the Knesset, the Council for the Advancement of Women in Science, the Authority for the Status of Women, the Ministry of Science and the National Academy of Sciences also initiated Ogden Publishing, the center names of leading female scientists and researchers in their fields. "When asked why women-scientists were overlooked for various positions, the answer is, 'because we couldn't find women,'" says Messer-Yeron. "The goal of the department is to show that there are talented women."
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~785619894~~~127&SiteName=hayadan
