Portuguese Women in Science and Technology (S&T): Some Gender Features Behind MSc. and PhD. Achievement

Portuguese Women in Science and Technology (S&T): some gender features
behind MSc. and PhD. achievement

Author: Chagas Lopes, Margarida

(Assistant Professor at ISEG - Institute of Economics and Business Administration of the Technical
University of Lisbon)

Paper accepted for presentation at the European Conference on Educational
Research, University of Geneva, 13-15 September 2006 but withdrawn due to the
author’s unavailablity on the scheduled date

Abstract

Most research based upon institutional data has been dealing with the situation
of Portuguese women in Science and Technology as if it would be a homogeneous set.
Quite the opposite, whilst women in science are performing increasingly better than
men since the early school ages, indeed a Portuguese idiosyncrasy comparing to other
PISA countries, they are still underrepresented in most technological fields. Among
other determinants this feature ascribes most Portuguese graduate women to
occupations where career prospects are quite uncertain and worse than men’s in the
same qualification levels. Either by career requirements or in reason of one’s seeking to
improve knowledge and apply to a better job, post-graduation undergoing appears
therefore as an obvious way out strategy. Nevertheless, even high skilled Portuguese
women in scientific occupations face generally weaker opportunities and have to take
more time than men to achieve a post-graduation. A Project in the behalf of Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology provided us longitudinal data on PhD. and
MSc. trajectories within four Portuguese universities. By investigating such a data on
the basis of a Hazard-Survival Model and Cox Regression Analysis we could identify
some of the main gender determinants behind obstacles and time to achieve MSc.

Key Words: Gender and Science; Obstacles to post-graduation achievement; Hazard
Survival Models; Portugal.

JEL Classification: I23

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