Women’s Careers in Physics: Results from the Global Survey of Physicists

1. Women’s Careers in Physics: Results from the Global Survey of Physicists Rachel Ivie and Casey Tesfaye Funded by Henry Luce Foundation National Science Foundation, Award 1012148, Beverly Hartline, Principal Investigator

2. Why survey women in physics? Source: US Department of Education

4. (Spain) “It is difficult when you are, as I have been, the only woman in a conference. Or when people interrupt, or do not listen or even laugh at what you are saying, even if it is important. Or when advisors or mentors could not believe that I’d done the work myself.”

5. We also must have data on other factors that affect women’s careers • In this study, we focus on • Education • Work and family • Opportunities • Resources Although representation is very low

6. Goal: To describe common problems that women in physics across the world face in their work and studies With Women’s Working Group of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), AIP has done 3 global surveys Why a Global Survey of Physicists?

7. More than 1000 women from more than 50 countries responded to each survey Only women were included English only The first two global surveys of physicists

8. To ensure comparability across countries—one report at the end of the process To show whether women physicists’ experiences are different from men’s To provide survey in languages other than English Purposes of third survey

9. English • French • Russian • Arabic • Chinese • Spanish • German • Japanese Languages

11. Web survey sent to country leaders from conference Survey itself contained instructions to forward to colleagues Sample surveys were drawn by American and German Physical Societies, so their results are representative of their membership. Survey went to entire membership of Japanese Physical Society. Open from ~Oct. 2009-Oct. 2010 How the survey was distributed

13. 130 countries 14,932 respondents 75% from Very Highly Developed Countries (21% Female) 25% from Less Developed Countries (27% Female) Employed in all types of jobs Who Responded?

14. Norway Australia New Zealand United States Ireland Liechtenstein Netherlands Canada Sweden Germany Japan Korea (Republic of) Switzerland France Israel Finland Iceland Belgium Denmark Spain Hong Kong, China (SAR) Greece Italy Luxembourg Austria United Kingdom Singapore Czech Republic Slovenia Andorra Slovakia United Arab Emirates Malta Estonia Cyprus Hungary Brunei Darussalam Qatar Bahrain Portugal Poland Barbados Very Highly Developed NationsUnited Nations, 2010

15. education

16. When did you first think of choosing physics as your career?

17. Work and family

18. How did your work or career change because you are a parent?

19. Has your career changed your personal life, such as decisions about marriage or children?

20. How much school did your partner or spouse complete?

21. If your partner is employed, does he or she earn:

22. Is your partner or spouse employed in the field of physics?

24. Models tested Resources and opportunities

25. Percentage of respondents with access to key resources

26. % of R’s w/ career-advancing opportunities

28. Sex had a statistically significant effect on all resources In the models tested

29. % of R’s w/ career-advancing opportunities

31. Relationship between career progress and opportunities

32. Relationship between career progress and resources

33. Sex*Children

34. Compared to colleagues, how quickly have you progressed in your career?

35. The Bad News First

36. Percentage of respondents who have felt discouraged about physics

37. Percent who felt discouraged because of interaction with colleagues

38. Percent who felt discouraged about workplace environment

39. Percent who felt discouraged about funding and personal life

40. 89% said yes Would you choose physics again?

41. Male physicists are more likely to have wives who don’t work or make less money. Men are more likely to have someone who takes care of home and family than working women physicists. Across the world, women report access to fewer career-advancing resources and opportunities than men do. Women with children report the slowest career advancement, echoing findings from research literature. Representation isn’t everything. Conclusions

42. Education: use research-based strategies to encourage girls to stay in physics • Opportunities and resources: • Decision-makers should work to distribute opportunities and resources fairly • Professional societies should work to increase awareness of how opportunities and resources are unequally distributed • Programs to remedy women’s situations should be based on documented differences • Work and family: personal and cultural Recommendations

43. Visit http://www.aip.org/statistics for past reports or to sign up for updates about the Global Survey of Physicists Our article available in Feb. 2012 issue of Physics Today Want to learn more?

44. Thanks to our colleagues Roman Czujko, Raymond Chu, & Susan White