The Leaky Pipeline

2006-07-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

I often read that people cannot understand why there is still a leaky pipeline - why women are still being lost from research positions - when conditions have been so much improved. Well - there is a simple answer: they still haven't been improved enough. Look at this for an example: The Max Planck Institute in Germany has a type of "contract" that isn't a contract. This means that postdocs are given money which they don't have to pay tax on - in return they must work for the Max Planck Institute. No tax - great right? Wrong. By not giving their "employees" a proper contract - the Max Planck Institute doesn not have to pay into the National Health Scheme. This means employees must pay for their own private health insurance. What's the problem? Private health Insurance schemes are more expensive for women - because they have to cover the costs of pregnancy. If a women takes maternity leave part of her maternity pay is payed for by her insurance and part by her employee. If there is no contract does the employee have to pay? Is the women even entitled to leave? I can't work out the intricacies of German law to give you the answer to that one - maybe someone can tell me. I suspect that she would be entitled to leave.

In addition - if you are enrolled in a national health scheme and your employee contributes half of the cost - if you have any dependents - e.g. children or an unemployed spouse, then they are automatically covered at no extra cost. If you have to pay for your own private insurance you have to pay for everyone independently.

This is the situation as I understand - please tell me if I am wrong.

As I understand it then - the current "non-contracts" offered by the Max Planck Institute indirectly discriminate against women and against families (and women tend to be married with children at a younger age than men - i.e. they are more likely to be in this situation at the post-doc age).

Are there any women post-docs in Germany who can fill me in on the situation? Maybe I've got it totally wrong - but at a first glance it certainly looks bad.

2006-03-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

An interesting study has just been published by the EU about the continuing gap between women and men when it comes to salary levels and number of top level positions.

It is summarized at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4785824.stm

2006-01-31T04:04:00.000-08:00

The Leaky Pipeline is the name given to the effect whereby at increasingly senior levels women drop out of research.

There seems to be little advice around for women post-doc level researchers starting their careers.

I am hoping with this blog to create a page where women post-doc researchers can share advice and experiences about their post-doc careers.

As a start here are a few links that may be useful:

The Equal Opportunities Commission (UK)

The Council of Europe - Human Rights - Equality between men and women

The European Commission for Employment

Social Affairs & Equal Opportunities - Gender Equality

A quick guide to EU employment and social policies

The European Job mobility Portal - important since post-doc positions so often have to be found abroad

Unfortunately none of these sites are specific to women researchers.

Please send in comments about your experiences. e.g.

Do you have a "contract" which doesn't entitle you to maternity and other benefits?
Has your contract not been renewed because of pregnancy?
Do you feel excluded because you are not drinking buddies with the boss?
Do you know a good place to find information and advice for women post-docs?
Do you know how to find out what benefits your "contract" entitles you to in different countries?
Do you suffer from the "two-body" problem? - where a couple are both researchers - and find it difficult to get jobs at the same place.

Here are a few links to articles written by women researchers, conferences about discrimination against women in research and research done into discrimination against women (researchers):

Diminished By Discrimination We Scarcely See - By Meg Urry

The Baltimore Charter for Women In Astronomy

Nepotism and sexism in peer-review

A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT

University of Texas researcher explores issues surrounding women, discrimination

A list of reports into the status of women in Universities