Survey: Female scientists are discriminated against more in Israel than in Europe

A European organization published data according to which the female representation in academia on the continent
continues to shuffle; In Israel the situation is more difficult: in the Faculty of Natural Sciences,
For example, the average percentage of women is 26 percent - in Israel only 12 percent

By: Tamara Traubman, Haaretz

A new survey published by a European organization called the "Helsinki Group" reveals that
Women scientists are still discriminated against and are not adequately represented
in universities. The situation of Israeli women scientists is particularly bad.

The Helsinki Group is an organization of the European Commission, which includes 29 countries
European countries and in addition to them also Israel, and its goal is to promote women in science. the data
The new ones appear in the first survey published by the organization, and they refer only to
to 12 European countries. Comparisons will be published later this year, among others
The members of the organization. However, we can already learn about the state of science in Israel
Now, from the data that the Ministry of Science transferred to the organization.

According to the survey, in the natural sciences - which include the biological sciences,
Physics, mathematics and medicine - the average proportion of women is about 26
percentage. In Israel, women make up only about 12 percent of all scientific researchers
Nature.

The lowest proportion of women is in engineering and technology. in Israel,
Women make up only 10 percent of all researchers in engineering faculties
and architecture, and even in Portugal, which is the most advanced country in the field, women
still make up only 29 percent of all researchers in this field.

"From an Israeli point of view," says the chief scientist of the Ministry of Science, a professor
Hagit Maser-Yeron, "This is particularly serious, because Israel as a high-tech country is horrendous
It's been years for manpower in these areas, but you're wasting human resources in doing so
which fails to bring more women into the field."

In some of the countries, which operate advanced programs for the equal representation of women
In science - like Finland and Sweden - there is still a low proportion of women
in science. The survey editors attribute this to other factors, such as labor laws
and welfare and social norms, which make it difficult for women to develop careers in science.

Prof. Messer-Yeron said that one of the most common claims is that such data
Those published in the survey do not reflect intentional discrimination against women in academia,
Rather, they arise from the fact that in the first place fewer women approach studies in the sciences.
However, according to her, for about 15 years, women make up about 50 percent of the graduates
in the faculties of life sciences, but still only 17 percent of the researchers in the field
They are women.
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