and 5. Finally, in Section 6 we will review the main outcomes and suggest
further eventual research lines.
2. General Overview and Characterization
For organisation purposes we will break down the analysis of the
situation concerning Portuguese women in Science and Technology into
the following items:
- school trajectories: assessing gender differences relative to
scientific and technological performance, perceptions and
motivations when completing (present) compulsory
education, e.g., at 15 years age and when proceeding into
secondary education;
- tertiary education and post-graduation: perceiving the main
differences between women and men graduate and post-
graduate in scientific and technological fields, in which
concerns namely concentration by fields of study and main
reasons behind undergoing into MSc. and/or PhD;
- articulation between school and work trajectories: will
labour market insertion conditions affect differently women’
and men’ decisions and opportunities to follow post-
graduation studies? How far will the occupational status
obtained as a result of a MSc. and/or a PhD. differ between
male and female populations?
School trajectories and performance levels in compulsory education
have for long time been presented as one of the major reasons behind