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

different school track choosing between girls and boys, not only in Portugal
but in general. Nevertheless the outcomes from PISA 2003³ revealed quite
unexpected results: despite the huge weakness both girls and boys went on
exhibiting relatively to Mathematics (in all the four criteria considered),
Reading Literacy and Scientific Culture and Knowledge⁴, gender
differences in all the above domains were perceived not to be statistically
meaningful in Portugal. This feature should be emphasized as a national
idiosyncrasy: actually, boys almost systematically perform far better than
girls in Mathematics (a result which is still holding for countries such as
Greece, Slovakia, Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, for instance)
and although in a small scale in Scientific Culture, but in Portugal those
gaps seem to be narrowing, in line with the general, albeit modest,
upgrading trend.

Also, some statistical indicators developed by the Portuguese
Ministry for Education are showing that scientific tracks are attracting each
year an increasing proportion of the 11^th. degree pupils: some 62%, against
16,9% for Humanities and 12,8% for Socio-Economics, in 2004/2005⁵. But
when we consider Secondary Vocational Education we still perceive an
important gender bias arising in which concerns some studying fields, such
as Environment and Natural Resources, Electronics and Mechanics, Civil
Engineering, Metalwork Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Informatics:
the feminisation rate among pupils in these six fields taken altogether
roughly approached 32%, in 2001, according to the same source. This
result will not be further developed in this paper as it concerns a population
different from the one whose trajectories we intend to analyse. But it is

³ OECD (2004).

⁴ Meaning the ability to apply scientific knowledge and skills to ”real life situations” and not specifically
curricula assessment (OECD, 2004, op. cit).

⁵ GIASE (2004-2005).

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