ince the Nineties, national and international scientific institutions have started to develop initiatives aimed to address the under-representation of women recorded in
Science and Technology fields. According to the latest She Figures Report, the main source of European statistics on the representation of women and men amongst PhD graduates, researchers and academics published every three years by European Commission, across Europe, the proportion of women heads of Higher Education Institutions has risen from 15.5% to 20.1% during the period 2010 to 2013, in 2013 the 45% of researchers were women, having increased their presence by 1
percentage point since 2007. However, only 21% of Full professor were women; a 58 percentage point difference with men. The under-representation of women continues to
characterise participation in science and technology occupations (She Figures 2015). To make visible the processes responsible for the different scientific trajectories of women and men in science and to unveil the underlying mechanisms that sustain these processes are the main aims of this research study.
To this purpose, this study develops a theoretical framework working through different perspectives on issues related to women’s participation in science, while linking
specific institutional and dynamics to broader societal ones
