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Finnish science and technology Information Service

 

Equal opportunity in research with nimbers

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Women and men in senior university posts (%)

  Woman % Men % Total
Finland 2 267 36 4 029 64 6 296
Sweden 10 736 33 21 798 67 32 534
Spain 25 351 32 53 870 68 79 221
France 13 567 29 33 215 71 46 782
Italy 14 140 28 36 361 72 50 501
EU 91 471 26 260 342 74 351 813
UK 9 836 24 31 146 76 40 982
Austria 2 422 23 8 107 77 10 529
Greece 2 691 22 9 539 78 12 230
Denmark 1 274 21 4 792 79 6 066
Netherlands 3 335 15 18 899 85 22 234
Belgium 885 14 5 434 86 6 319
Ireland 132 12 972 88 1 104
Germany 3 322 9 33 594 91 36 916
Source: Eurostat, Ministry of Education: KOTA Database, Statistics Finland: Science, Technology and Information Society

Table with figure


Proportion of women among new university students, holders of higher university degrees and university teaching staff in 1997 and 2007.


 New students Higher university degrees Assistants PhDs Senior assistants Professors

Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women
1997 8 464 10 196 4 657 6 236 1 046 675 559 375 480 206 1 750 376
2007 8 377 11 271 5 531 8 352 489 565 752 771 415 271 1 751 538














% % % % % % % % % % % %
1997 45 55 43 57 61 39 60 40 70 30 82 18
2007 43 57 40 60 47 53 49 51 60 39 77 23

Source: KOTA database, Ministry of Education

Table with figure

In Finland, measures are taken to promote equal opportunity in all sectors of society. Women have been a majority in university admissions since the 1970s. The number of women PhDs has grown; in 2007 50,6 % of new PhDs were women.

Similarly, the number of women in R&D posts has grown steadily. In 2006, about 35% of research personnel in general and 48% of university research personnel were women, and the proportion of women professors in Finland is the highest in the EU-15.