Final conference of the study ‘Meta-analysis of gender and science research’
at the Institut pour l’Egalité des Femmes et des Hommes, Brussels, Belgium

The purpose of the ‘Meta-analysis of gender and science research’ study is to collect and analyse research on horizontal and vertical gender segregation in research careers, addressing the underlying causes and effects of these two aspects (www.genderandscience.org).
The main objective of the conference is to present the conclusions of the study and to discuss with experts and policy-makers the possibilities and challenges for European and national research on gender and science and policies towards gender equality in science.

Based upon this central theme, we invite papers addressing the following topics:

1. Horizontal and vertical segregation
Horizontal and vertical segregation remain an essential aspect of women’s employment in science so that the topic is one of the most studied in the different countries and the most linked with the other topics.
• However, the long-term evolution of segregation and its links with the increasing number of women in science needs more investigation and we suggest this topic to be the first theme to be addressed in this session.
• As far as segregation is rooted in the early stages of the education process and that the literature generally concentrates on girls’ choices, boys’ choices, which involve an even narrower choice of scientific fields, are less questioned. Gendered choices in the education process will be the second topic to be addressed in the session.
• Vertical segregation is generally investigated for the academic sector, the reference model being the male full-time, continuous career. Therefore, the place for a flexible career in science will be the third question to be investigated in this session

2. Pay and funding
The gender wage gap is a general feature of most of the labour markets. Research and science do not show a different picture even if the relative homogeneity at this educational level may suggest that gender wage inequality be weaker among scientists and researchers than in the general economy. Gender inequality in funding is another important and more specific feature of gender inequality in science and research.
Papers on these two topics are welcome, with a priority given to comparative and longitudinal studies and to papers aimed at analyzing the mechanisms that lead to gender inequality in pay and funding in
science and research.

3. Stereotypes and identity
The session about ‘stereotypes and identity’ addresses the analysis of gendered stereotypes in science, their patterns of persistence and permeability to change, and their impact on educational and professional choices of women and men. Special foci could be: differential choices by women of scientific fields in education and professional careers in connection with gendered images of sciences; differential feminisation versus masculinisation of sciences; studies about comparison of female critical mass and necessity of organisational change; women researchers in SET and top managerial positions.
Especially studies of the topic in the business and private sector are welcomed. From a life course perspective, the construction of identity in early childhood and youth and its relation to gendered images of sciences and choices of education would be interesting. Empirical studies about the change processes in the biographical construction of identity during the life course and construction of different masculinities in different scientific fields and disciplines are valued.
Because of their lack, empirical research and longitudinal studies that report on these issues applying a sound conceptual approach present a clear interest. Comparisons between international non European and European results are also interesting, as well as European comparisons between different countries and country groups. Evaluations of mainstreaming actions and policies against the reproduction of stereotypes are welcomed, as well as analyses of the processes for transforming organisational stereotypes in SET. Critical reviews of existing research on gender stereotypes are also
welcomed.

4. Science as a labour activity
This session deals with the underlying causes of gender segregation in science related with the organisation of work and the difficulties of balancing professional and personal lives. The ‘work-life’ conflict is one of the most commonly held explanations for the under-representation of women in science, particularly in senior positions. This session intends to provide a critical insight on the literature on this theme, distinguishing between structural barriers (time and mobility constraints) and subtle discrimination across the scientific career. The basic research questions are:
• Do women have to make different choices concerning the personal and professional life
course than men?
• What is the relation between ‘demographic’ variables and time allocation to scientific
productivity/career across the life course?
The session will address these two questions, paying special attention to the interrelation between personal and professional events at each stage of the life course, the cumulative effect of positive and negative effects that shape scientific careers, and the existence of professional trajectories that do not follow the normative scientific career.

5. Scientific excellence
Women scientists encounter more problems than their male counterparts a) in achieving the excellence that they are potentially capable to achieve, given their results comparative to males in the early stages of their careers and b) in seeing the excellence they achieve recognized by their colleagues of both sexes. This fact is problematic because it indicates the unnecessary waste of a very scarce human resource, talent; and because it determines a bias of the entire scientific enterprise in favour of topics, operational styles and approaches associated with the male sex.
Contributions to be presented in this session include
• Explanations of either fact (a) or (b)
• Analyses of practices and cases where feminine excellence is most clearly affirmed or denied
• Explorations of the consequences of women not reaching positions of excellence.
A plurality of methodological approaches (sociology, psychology, science of the organization, gender studies, biography...), are not only accepted but warmly welcomed.

6. Gender in research content
Engendering research contents entails systematically questioning whether, and in what sense, sex and gender are relevant in the objectives and methodology of research. This session will discuss contributions about the gender biased construction of scientific knowledge, as well as relevant examples in which taking into account sex and gender in research content has significantly contributed to scientific excellence. The session will discuss the relevance of the gender dimension in three main scientific fields: (a) social sciences, (b) life sciences and (c) natural sciences and engineering.
Contributions dealing with practical examples of gender-sensitive research are especially welcome.

7. Policies towards gender equality in research
Especially from the late 1990s onwards the European Member States have intensified their policy activity to achieve gender equality across all public arenas including science and research. This has led to many conceptual discussions and concrete equality initiatives amply documented in the Gender and Science Database of the present meta-analysis project. Papers submitted to the topic on Policies towards Gender Equity in Science should address specifically one of the following emerging themes:
• Development and experiences of promotion measures for women in the private sector, in
relation to research- and/or innovation policies,
• The difficult and problematic relation between policy towards gender equality and cultural change in science,
• The politics and logic of evaluation of policies towards gender equality.

The Scientific Committee of the conference is composed of: Prof. Elisabetta Addis, Prof. Francesca Bettio, Ms. Maria Caprile, Prof. Cecilia Castaño, Dr. Ana Maria Faísca Phillips, Dr. Adina Magda Florea, Dr. Dóra Groó, Dr. Bojana Hamzic, Dr. Ineke Klinge, Dr. Pilar López Sancho, Ms. Marina Larios, Prof. Martine Lumbreras, Prof. Danièle Meulders, Dr. Dunja Mladenic, Prof. Nikitas Nikitakos, Prof. Birgitta Nordstrom, Dr.
Síle O’Dorchai, Prof. Mary Osborn, Dr. Maria Palasik, Prof. Robert Plasman, Dr. Elizabeth Politzer, Ass. Prof. Dr. Felizitas Sagebiel, Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, Dr. Dalia Satkovskiené, Prof. Londa Schiebinger, Dr. Imrgard Schultz, Ms. Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden, Prof. Mina Teicher, Dr. Teresa Torns, Ms. Núria Vallès, Prof. Sylvia Walby, Dr. Flavia Zucco.

Download the abstract submission template at: www.genderandscience.org
Deadline for submitting the abstracts: 31st May 2010
Send abstracts to e-mail address: gsconference@cirem.org