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

level (0,107) lied over the statistically acceptable maximum threshold
(0,100).

Outcomes concerning PhD. must be considered with particular
caution given the small number of individuals with this degree in our
sample (32, being 19 men and 13 women)¹⁷. Nevertheless, reasons behind
PhD. seem to be quite different from MSc.’ both for women and for men,
as one could expect. “Facing no employment alternatives” and “Employer
institution’s decision/initiative/arrangement...” appear to be the main
reasons for women to undergo this further degree. We cannot find now any
statistically meaningful association with husband’s either school level or
professional occupation, neither seems “time to get PhD.” be statistically
associated with anyone of the proposed variables. Of course we must
realise that PhD. is still mostly undergone by individuals seeking an
academic career, a feature which explains differences in strategy when
compared to MSc. By the above reasons, no Cox Regression adjustment
will be tried for PhD’s in the next Section.

Nevertheless, some PhD’s outcomes appear to be quite gender
influenced. Actually, some 79% among male PhD’s expressed to be
“Much Satisfied” with post-doctoral academic career situation, against
roughly 31% for their female counterparts¹⁸. An identical result occurs with
the “Ability to enhance scientific culture” once PhD. completed. But most
gender differences concerning PhD. have to do with leading obstacles and
course’s curriculum and arrangements: “Lack of support by family” is the

¹⁷ Actually, only 27 among this 32 had already completed PhD. by the time of the survey;
notwithstanding, for some analytical purposes we considered the whole 32 trajectories whenever they
appeared to be meaningful telling on gender differences.

¹⁸ Outcomes coincident with the above one have already been obtained by other author’s results. See for
instance Gonzalez et al (2001), Perista & Silva (2004, op. cit.), Amâncio e Âvila (1995, op. cit), Amâncio
(2005, op. cit).

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