Status of Women in Physics in Norway

Abstract

Fewer than 20% of the higher degrees in physics are awarded to women in Norway, a situation that not has improved much over the last 20 years. Figure 1 gives an overview of the percentage of women Master’s and PhD candidates in physics in Norway since 1996. The relative number of women obtaining Master’s degrees in physics fell to a minimum of 12.5% in 2001. In 2004 it increased to an all-time high of 38.2%, but the last number could be a statistical deviation due to small numbers in the statistics. Women PhD candidates also reached an all-time high in 2004, at 34.5%, following a minimum of 14.8% in 2001. However, there is a large fluctuation in the data from the previous year, so there is no steady growth in relative numbers yet. The total numbers of Master’s and PhD candidates since 1996 are shown in Figure 2. We see that the number of Master’s candidates dropped steadily until 2002, when it made a jump and is now steadily decreasing again. On the other hand, the number of women PhD candidates has been increasing slightly since 2002, a trend contrary to the total trend, which shows that the total number of PhD candidates has been steady since 1999. Twenty-six women masters graduated in 2004, which is the highest number in the data series. What is the situation for women physicists in academia after graduation? The overall numbers of postdoctoral candidates are so small (although growing), that no meaningful statistical data can be obtained. Most academic positions in Norwegian Universities are permanent, on the associate professor or full professor level. The numbers of women physicists holding permanent positions seems to be slowly, but steadily, increasing. In Table 1 the numbers we collected in 2002 (for the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics) are compared with numbers obtained from the administrations of the four Norwegian universities that award physics degrees. The percentage of women holding permanent academic positions in physics departments has doubled since 2002, but the number is still subcritical. In recent years attention has again focused on the slow relative increase of women professors at the universities. Although their numbers have been growing,