Speaker
Description
The study is part of a research project on gender and physics conducted together with Prof. Yossi Nir, from the Physics faculty at Weizmann Institute of Science.
This study examines perceptions of PhD and postdoctoral female physics students, from all faculties in Israel, regarding their decision whether to pursue an academic career.
Despite ongoing efforts to enhance gender equality in science in the academy, women constitute a scarce minority of faculty staff in maths-intensive fields worldwide and the barriers for change are persistent. In Israel the gender imbalance is extremely severe, as women constitute up to 20% of the academic staff in maths- intensive fields yet only 7% in physics. Our aim is to explore the reasons for this gender imbalance and find new avenues to enhance diversity in physics.
The research is based on mixed methods methodologies, including a representative survey of all physics PhD students in Israel (n=267) male and female, as well as face to face in-depth interviews with 38 female PhD and postdoctoral students.
The research findings add to understanding that women are considering academic careers as a "deal" that has not only occupational- career components and personal-family components, but also economic considerations, which are less well studied.
Through the women’s stories, we reveal the multiple and hidden ways in which gender operates as a power structure within the field of physics, inside the family and in the labor market. We discuss how this power structure influences the women’s decision making regarding their career and shapes the "deal" that physics as a male-centric environment offers to these talented young women.
