A3-0278/94

Resolution on scientific staff in European R & D

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mrs Goedmakers on scientific staff in European R & D (B3-0887/92),

-having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having delegated the power of decision to its Committee on Women's Rights, pursuant to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and the opinion of the Committee on Energy, Research and Technology (A3-0278/94),

A.whereas science and technology are the key to development and progress,

B.whereas in modern society men and women should be able to participate on an equal footing in all areas of human activity and should also be able to enjoy the fruits thereof in equal measure,

C.having regard to the findings of the International Workshop on Women in Scientific and Technological Research in the European Community of 15 and 16 February 1993, organized by the Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development, DG XII,

D.having regard also to the findings and recommendations of the International Workshop on the Under-representation of Women in Science and Technology of 26 November 1993, organized by STOA (Scientific and Technological Options Assessment) in the European Parliament,

E.having regard also to the hearing of the Committee on Women's Rights, to which influential women academics made contributions,

F.having regard to Articles 123, 126, 127 and 130f to 130p of the EC Treaty,

1.Notes that in all the Member States there has been an explosive increase since the end of the 1960s in the number of women in university institutions, so that now almost as many women as men are involved in higher education;

2.Notes, however, that a proportionate increase can scarcely be said to have occurred among practitioners of science and technology and that none of the most prestigious and powerful scientific posts at the highest level are held by women;

3.Takes the view that many aspects of the discrimination against women in science and technology are comparable to the difficulties which women experience in general in the labour market: a bias in the choice of studies and career, an androcentric work environment, lack of provisions for child care and care of family members, inflexible working hours, inconvenient mobility requirements. Women employed in science work at lower levels than men with equivalent qualifications, often in temporary posts, advance more slowly in their careers and perform duties with less prestige;

4.Takes the view that, with regard to other aspects, the disadvantage suffered by women is comparable to that which they suffer in all policy-making posts, inter alia as regards thinning out towards the top of the academic or scientific hierarchy and what is known as the glass ceiling;

5.Notes with regard to the representation of women in the world of science and technology that there is a significant and positive difference in the southern Member States of the European Union, where science is not yet inextricably linked with technological and economic growth;

I.Gender-inclusive education and upbringing

6.Notes that the social construction of gender is already imposed in the first years of life and is further confirmed in the socialization process of the family, school, peer group, media and culture;

7.Notes that despite formal attempts to achieve coeducation and equality of opportunity, education often still offers no positive role models to girls in science and technology and women are not encouraged to develop their intellectual, technological and scientific abilities;

8.Calls for the use in scientific and technological education of teaching methods which correspond to or relate to women's skills, ways of thinking and experience of life;

9.Recalls its earlier demands and recommendations concerning upbringing, education and the equal opportunities policy to be pursued in counselling on education and careers;

10.Stresses the need to take corrective action by means of positive measures for gender - including education, especially in science and technology;

II.Gender-inclusive science

11.Observes that the social organization of science, the selection of research projects, of methods, the determination of theoretical frameworks, the development of theories and, lastly, the application of science and technology are not gender-neutral;

12.Calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough study of ways to make the pursuit of science and technology accessible to both sexes so that men and women can make an equal contribution and participate on an equal footing;

13.Recommends the Commission to draw up comparable statistics on all the Member States, applicant states and European Commission programmes, with a gender breakdown according to:

-academic status in universities (both in general and specifically for each scientific and technological discipline),

-position held in scientific and technological research institutes,

-financing by national funds and scientific and technological research foundations,

-financing by national funds and scientific and technological research foundations (percentage of female applicants in relation to percentage of female scientists who receive funding)

-membership at national and Union level of policy-making bodies and science and technology funding bodies;

14.Recommends the Commission to consider positive action in the Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development, DG XII, but also in the Task Force for Human Resources for Education, Training and Youth, based on the discrepancy between the percentage of women in science and technology working at the top level and the number of women with educational qualifications in the scientific field;

III.Affirmative action programme for women in science and technology

15.Recommends the Commission to submit an action plan in order to boost the number of women working in science and technology, differentiated by discipline and by Member State, with target figures and target dates in comparison with the current percentage of women working at the lowest level;

16.Wishes an evaluation to be made of existing positive action programmes for women in science and technology in the various Member States and wishes them to be extended to other Member States;

17.Demands that whenever a science and technology research programme is financed by the European Union, a commitment to equality of opportunity be written into the programme;

18.Urges the Commission to withhold its support from any scientific and technological conference at which there is not a single female speaker;

19.Calls on the Commission to take exceptional and exemplary entry measures, such as creating for a limited period a number of research posts in the Member States for exceptionally gifted women scientists;

IV.Use of the Structural Funds

20.Urges the Commission to use the European structural funds to support women in science and technology by:

(a)attracting more women into science and technology,

(b)training women for technical jobs,

(c)giving grants for science and technology to women in industry and in universities,

(d)giving women in industry and universities relatively small entry-level grants so that they can compete or prepare for major EC programmes,

(e)boosting the number of women in positions with an influence over policy and funding decisions,

(f)providing child care and social infrastructure,

V.Women in the European Union: fourth framework research programme

21.Calls for the Commission's Equal Opportunities service to be involved from the outset in the drawing up and start-up of these programmes;

22.Urges the Equal Opportunities service to examine the Fourth Research Framework Programme in the light of equal opportunities and balance between the sexes and to put forward appropriate proposals for positive action;

23.Considers that special attention must be paid to projects in scientific and technological fields in which women are under-represented;

24.Takes the view that the establishment of European chairs of science and technology at the highest level at universities and research centres could have a corrective effect in ensuring that applications from women are examined more seriously;

VI.Science and technology in third countries

25.Recognizes the significance of scientific and technological research for developing countries and hopes that women from developing countries will be involved both in the selection of research projects and in their execution;

26.Recommends that separate funds be made available so that women from developing countries can take part in science and technology conferences and meetings;

27.Recognizes the major contribution which women used to make to science and technology in Eastern and Central Europe and urges the European Union to set up projects in these countries which will enable women to continue to play their positive role in science and technology there;

VII.Supporting networks

28.Considers that networks of women in science and technology should be established in which women can give each other support in:

(a)giving guidance and advice,

(b)helping to find jobs,

(c)establishing contacts and making recommendations, and exchanging information about conferences, publications, training periods, grants, etc.,

(d)establishing links between the requirements for research, basic research, applied research and technology in the interests of women;

29.Calls for the Commission to support:

(a)existing networks of women in science and technology in the European Union;

(b)networks of women within scientific or technological disciplines;

(c)scientific associations of women in particular scientific disciplines (including medicine and biology);

VIII.Women's studies in science and technology

30.Wishes in-depth research to be carried out into gender equality in the teaching of science and technology and into the reasons why girls give up;

31.Calls for studies to be made of the profile (both intellectual and social) of the women who choose to work in science and technology;

32.Wishes research to be carried out concerning the factors which induce women to abandon their studies or careers in science and technology;

33.Calls for studies to be made of androcentrism in:

(a)defining the object of scientific and technological study,

(b)the research methods employed,

(c)the organization of scientific work at the workplace,

(d)the lack of scientific and technological research in areas which can alter or influence the lot of women,

(e)the lack of further or applied scientific research in areas where research findings indicate markedly different situations for men and women;

IX.At national level

34.Calls for analytical studies to be carried out in each Member State of the lack of equality between men and women in:

(a)access to scientific and technological studies and research,

(b)access to funding for research,

(c)career development in science and technology,

(d)access to top jobs (the 'glass ceiling'),

(e)access to science and technology policy-making bodies;

35.Notes that in some Member States, although women are indeed present in scientific research in the academic framework, in practice they do not participate equally in scientific research in specialized research centres endowed with large budgets;

36.Calls therefore for an investigation to be conducted, stating the size of the budget and of the public financing of research in certain branches of industry (e.g. aerospace industries, arms industry) and in national institutes (underground prospecting, the environment, etc.).

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37.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Ministers responsible for education, research and scientific development in the Member States of the European Union.