This page contains some statistics on gender balance in science. Statistics on science and teaching, Research and Development (R&D/FoU statistics), is in Norway compiled every other year. NIFU STEP is responsible for statistics on the university and university college sector (the UoH sector) and the institute sector, while Statistics Norway is responsible for the business world.

Some key figures

• A total of 11 800 women (42 per cent) in research positions participated in research and development at Norwegian higher education institutions, research institutes and health trusts in 2008.
• The proportion of women in Grade A positions was highest at the health trusts (30%) and lowest at the specialized university institutions (16%) in 2008.
• In 2008 7 693 women held academic positions in the UoH sector, which makes up a ratio of 43 per cent.
• The institute sector had a female ratio of 38 per cent in 2008.

The university and university college sector

• The female representation in academic positions at the universities was 40 per cent in 2008.
• In 2008 the share of women among the researchers was highest at the state university colleges (51%).

Within certain academic fields

• Within medicine and health sciences women made up 60 per cent of the permanent academic staff and 82 per cent of the university college lecturers at the public university colleges in 2007.
• Technology had the lowest female representation; 15 per cent (2007).

Academic positions - professors

• Women made up 20 per cent of the full professors in the UoH sector in 2008 (18 per cent in 2007).
• In 2008 the share of women among full professors was highest within the humanities, followed by medical and health sciences. (In 2007 the humanities had the highest female representation amongst professors, 24 per cent.)
• Engineering and technology was the field of science with the lowest representation of women in 2008. (In 2007 technological subjects had the lowest female ratio with six per cent.)
• The University of Oslo had the highest share of women both among full professors and associate professors in 2008.
• The lowest proportion of female full professors in 2008 was found at the University of Stavanger.

Academic positions – research fellows

• Women accounted for 52 and 45 percent respectively among research fellows and postdoctors in 2008, increasing by one percentage point for the research fellows and two for the post doctors from 2007.
• 2007 was the first year that female PhD students outnumbered their male counterparts.
• Mathematics, natural science and technology were the only subjects in 2007 that had more male than female PhD students.

Female representation in other positions (2007)

• Reader: 15 % women
• Academic director: 34 % women
• Associate professor: 35 % women
• Assistant professor: 35 % women
• Senior lecturer: 41 % women
• Postdoctor: 43 % women
• University and university college lecturer: 58 % women

Source:
NIFU STEP: Women in Science (newsletter in English, March 2010 and June 2008)
NIFU STEP: Kvinner i forskning (newsletter in Norwegian, December 2006) (.pdf)

The institute sector

• In 2008 38 per cent of the researchers in the institute sector were women. (37 per cent in 2007).
• The national faculties of social sciences had the highest female representation with 49 per cent in 2007.
• 35 per cent of the female researchers in the institute sector had in 2008 a PhD degree (33 per cent in 2007).
• At the enterprise-oriented institutes women made up 30 per cent of the researchers/R&D staff who had a university or university college degree in 2008 (27 per cent in 2007).
• At the public-oriented institutes women made up 41 per cent of the researchers/R&D staff who had a university or university college degree in 2008 (the same as in 2007).

Source:
NIFU STEP: Women in Science (newsletter in English, March 2010 and June 2008)
NIFU STEP: Kvinner i forskning (newsletter in Norwegian, November 2008)
Forskerrekruttering i Norge - status og komparative perspektiver, Report 2/2007, NIFU STEP. (In Norwegian)

PhDs

2009:

• In 2009 1 148 persons defended their dissertation at Norwegian universities and university colleges. This is a decline of almost a hundred persons compared to 2008.
• 45 per cent of the PhD graduates were women, the same percentage as in 2007 and 2008.
• In most of the subject fields the number of women and men were roughly equal.
• Within mathematics/natural sciences women made up 38 per cent in 2009, while the number of women in technology has increased considerably from 20 per cent in 2007 and 2008, to 30 per cent in 2009.
• 28 per cent of the PhD graduates were persons with foreign citizenship.

PhDs in 2009 per subject field and gender:

• The humanities: 54 women and 54 men finished their PhD degree
• The social sciences: 114 women and 137 men finished their PhD degree
• Mathematics/the natural sciences: 106 women and 171 men finished their PhD degree
• Technology: 39 women and 89 men finished their PhD degree
• Medicine and health sciences: 178 women and 158 men finished their PhD degree
• Agriculture/veterinary medicine: 27 women and 21 men finished their PhD degree

2008:

• In 2008 1 244 people defended their dissertation at Norwegian universities and university colleges. This is 214 more than in 2007.
• During 2008 the women comprised more than half the PhD graduates within medicine and health sciences.
• Within the humanities, social sciences and agriculture/veterinary medicine there were about 50/50 women and men.
• Women made up 37 per cent within mathematics/the natural sciences in 2008, while in technology only 21 per cent were women.
• One out of four PhD graduates were persons with foreign citizenship.

PhDs in 2008 per subject field and gender:

• The humanities: 67 women and 64 men finished their PhD degree
• The social sciences: 137 women and 137 men finished their PhD degree
• Mathematics/the natural sciences: 105 women and 179 men finished their PhD degree
• Technology: 30 women and 111 men finished their PhD degree
• Medicine and health sciences: 184 women and 152 men finished their PhD degree
• Agriculture/veterinary medicine: 37 women and 41 men finished their PhD degree

Source:
NIFU STEP, Doktorgrader i tall (newsletter in Norwegian February 2010)
NIFU STEP, Doctoral degrees in Norway

Education

Preliminary figures show an increase in the number of students at Norwegian universities and colleges from about 214 200 in 2008 to 221 600 in 2009. Women and men have reached an equal number of gains in enrolment.

Female and male students reached the same rate of growth in 2009 compared with a much faster rate to the benefit of women in 2008.

Less females completed tertiary education for the first time in several years in 2007/08. Approximately 34 100 tertiary degrees were completed by students in 2007/08; a fall of 400 graduations compared with 2006/07. The drop is explained by a declining number of females who completed tertiary education. The number of men completing a tertiary degree has been growing since 2004/05, whereas women faced a decline for the first time since 2001/02.

Fewer female graduations had the greatest impact in the field of Health, welfare and sport. Almost 400 less graduations were awarded to women in this field of education in 2007/08 compared with 2006/07. The largest increase was in Business and administration. In Science, there were 120 less graduations at undergraduate level but the number remained stable at graduate level.

A total of 84 and 72 per cent of the graduations from Health, welfare and sport and Teacher training and pedagogy respectively were awarded to women in 2007/08. There was a similar majority of men in the fields of Science and Transport and communications, safety, security and other services – 74 per cent in both fields.

Source:
Statistics Norway:
Education statistics. Students at universities and colleges, 1 October 2009. Preliminary figures
Education statistics. Graduations from universities and colleges, 2007/08
See articles concerning universities and colleges from Statistics Norway here

More figures

Statistics and indicators for the research system are presented by The Research Council of Norway in Science and Technology Indicators for Norway 2009. (Chapter 2.3.2 Women in Science.)

International

• The report She figures 2009 - Statistics and Indicators on Gender Equality in Science (.pdf). This is the current report of European statistics on women in science, which is published every three years.
• The report She Figures 2006 - Women and Science Statistics and Indicators, (.pdf) looks at women’s representation in academia in the EU countries. The report contains comparative statistics that also include Norway.
• Statistics in focus, no. 10 2008 Women employed in science and technology (.pdf).