Progress and challenges: Focus on women in science

Progress and challenges: Focus on women in science

Equality for women in science has made progress in Germany in recent years, but there is still a lot to be done. Today, March 9, 2025, various sources reflect on the current status and challenges in the area of ​​gender equality at universities and in research. How uni-freiburg.de reports, women are now well represented among students at German universities with a share of 50.9%. However, there is a decreasing trend in scientific professionalization: only 42.8% of full-time scientific staff are women.

What is particularly alarming is the decline in the proportion of women in professorships, which is currently only 28.8%. Angesichts dieser Zahlen formuliert das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) klare Ziele zur Schaffung von Parität auf allen akademischen Ebenen. A central measure is the female professor program, which has been running since 2023 and is intended to contribute to equality at universities with a funding volume of 320 million euros by 2030.

The trend towards equality

There is a positive trend in leadership by women at German universities. While in 2018 only 24% of universities were led by women, in 2023 this figure will already be 42%. The University of Freiburg under the leadership of the RectorKrieglsteinis an example of the increasing visibility of women in leadership positions.

The proportion of women at the University of Freiburg is also remarkable: 54.4% of students and 47.7% of academic staff are women. This is in contrast to the national figures, where many women starting their academic careers subsequently lose out to the so-called “leaky pipeline”, which describes how women are dramatically less represented with each subsequent qualification level. This is also reflected in the figures for 2022, where only 28% of professorships were held by women, while the proportion of female doctoral students was 46% and habilitation candidates 37%, as the BMBF showed in an analysis.

Initiatives to increase diversity

To combat these challenges, the BMBF has also launched the Diversity Initiative at German Universities to strengthen the diversity and representation of women, particularly in MINT subjects (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology). Here, the proportion of women among students rose from 19.5% in 1977 to 32.4% in 2022 — an encouraging sign, but not yet sufficient. In addition, an analysis by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) indicates that the proportion of women in top positions in non-university research institutions has steadily increased from 13.5% in 2013 to 24.2% in 2023.

Over the last ten years it has been shown that women are slowly but steadily gaining ground in their academic careers at universities and in research. In its new Equality Monitor, the GWK documents how the proportion of women graduating has increased to 53%, while the proportion still lags behind in professorships and higher positions.

Despite this progress, according to GWK chairman Markus Blume, there are still deficits in the speed of change. “The direction is right, but we still need to gain more momentum,” he emphasizes, emphasizing the need for additional incentives to promote women in leadership positions.

In summary, equality in science in Germany has made important progress, but structural barriers remain that need to be addressed decisively. The future of gender equality in research and teaching depends on sustainable measures and consistent implementation of existing programs.