The study was carried out by Elyse Ruest-Archambault with the support of Prof. Nick von Tunzelmann from the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU) of the University of Sussex, in collaboration with Dr Simona Iammarino from SPRU, Nick Jagger and Dr Linda Miller from the Institute for Employment Studies. The Serbian team from the Mihajlo Pupin Institute included Prof. Djuro Kutlaca, Dr Dusica Semencenko, Sanja Popvic-Pantic and Maria Mosurovic.
The aim of this study is to benchmark the policy measures for gender equality in science in the European Union, its associated members, and the Western Balkan region. Through defining a structure for mapping and classifying the measures, key policies and actions designed to promote gender equality in science were identified. The resulting profiles of national policies and statistics relating to women in science were then analysed to determine the extent to which the identified policies and actions were associated with changes in the proportions of women in science in the EU.
The national policy reports indicate that much progress has been achieved since the last Helsinki group’s report on national policies on women and science (Rees 2002). All the studied countries now have equal treatment legislation, and only three countries (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Israel and Switzerland) do not have a ministry with responsibility for women’s issues or a Statutory Gender Equality Agency. Five more countries (Denmark, Estonia, France, Latvia and Spain) have declared their commitment to gender mainstreaming since 2002, leaving 12 countries (32%) out of 38 with no mainstreaming plans. All but two countries (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro) offer women’s or gender studies courses within their universities, and sex-disaggregated statistics are becoming more available, with only three countries not reporting such data (Luxembourg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro).(…)
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