Losing them is not an option. Women in higher positions in the natural sciences are few and far between. As society cannot afford to lose them and the investment in their education, the question is, what to do about it?

Abstract

Science is a man's world. By looking at the composition of most science societies, grant committees or the speaker lists of scientific meetings, it becomes clear that women are not equally represented in the scientific realm. This is all the more astonishing as women have successfully proven that they have the same capabilities as men. Is it because women are less interested in a career in academic life, or are men actively defending one of their last bastions against the intrusion of the other sex? To address the question of whether the unequal representation of women in the life sciences is due to discrimination or decision, the European Molecular Biology Organisation organised a meeting entitled ‘The glass ceiling for women in the life sciences’ in Heidelberg, Germany. For two days in June 2001, more than 100 women scientists, many of them in leading positions in the European and US science landscapes—and unfortunately fewer than 10 men—met and discussed possible reasons for the gender inequality and measures to overcome the unfair male dominance of higher positions. The debates, often engaging and lively, showed that many men at the higher levels indeed still do not regard women as equally capable colleagues. ‘And then I was more successful than all my colleagues [at the Max Planck Society], and they couldn't bear it,’ Christiane Nusslein‐Volhard, a German Nobel laureate from the Max Planck Institute in Tubingen, described her experience as a women scientist rising through the male‐dominated German research landscape. But apart from active discrimination at the higher levels, women also face other problems—particularly when faced with the decision about having children—that most men do not have to consider. Mary Clutter: ‘It's better to be in a position of power than not be in a position of power’. ![][1] > Although in many countries the number … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif