Women in Physics: The Mexican Working Group

Abstract

Following the Resolutions of the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics held in 2002, our team presented a written report to the physics community [1]. During the General Assembly of the Mexican Physical Society, we suggested the creation of the Working Group on Women in Physics, which was approved unanimously on October 30, 2002 [2]. To form an initial group, we organized a meeting that we called the “First National Session,” held in Mexico City on May 23, 2003. Most of the attendees were graduate students. The team gave a short presentation about the first IUPAP conference and suggested conducting a survey similar to the one organized by IUPAP before the that conference as a way to decide future tasks. The team prepared a survey based on the questionnaire provided by the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics. The text was translated to Spanish and a few questions were replaced by others to address issues related to physics careers in our country. All questions were framed for both men and women [3]. The survey was posted online, and invitations to complete printed questionnaires were made during the 2003 National Meeting of the Mexican Physical Society. In addition, e-mails and posters were distributed in the largest research and academic centers around the country. Up to now, there have been 98 respondents online and 12 in the printed version. Most respondents are students. Moreover, since the number of physicists in the country has been estimated as approximately 1,500, more responses are necessary to have a valid sample. We decided to organize an additional round by visiting the most populated education and research centers to conduct personal interviews. This is an ongoing project, in collaboration with the Statistical Center of the School of Economy in the University of Puebla. We will use the survey data as the basis for a more extensive study, currently in the proposal stages to the National Women’s Institute and other government institutions. The Mexican Physical Society has organized a special program with a set of lectures given by women as a part of the World Year of Physics activities [4]. Some other activities have been developed at local levels to increase awareness of the issues of women in physics and in science: In Puebla a panel attended by high school students, parents, and teachers was very fruitful. Three women scientists from different disciplines talked about the obstacles they faced along their academic careers. The panel was organized in collaboration with the local government’s Women’s Institute. In 2004 Marcia Barbosa, Chair of the IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics, spoke at the University of Puebla about the Group’s work and goals. Staff and students of several science centers attended. A panel, Female Physicists in Puebla, was organized in March 2005 as part of the local activities to celebrate the World Year of Physics. Since 2004, the Research Center on Optics in Leon, Guanajuato, has organized the annual Conference on Participation of Women in Science to publicize research in all the sciences. The program consists of plenary talks given by female scientists and poster sessions presented by both male and female scientists. It is devoted to a wide audience, but specifically aims to motivate young girls to pursue a scientific career. The number of students in the physical sciences grew during the 1980s, while during the last decade it has plateaued at around 4,000 for bachelors and 1,000 for graduate students, with only slight fluctuations. Nevertheless, in the last decade the number of new students has dropped or remained constant for bachelor’s and graduate studies, respectively. The participation of women is shown in Table 1 [5,6]. The data show a trend of increasing participation by women during this time period, while the percentages decrease at higher career levels. Responses so far to the Working Group on Women in Physics’ survey in Mexico indicate that marriage and child care are the main reasons for career abandonment by women.