Female Students at University in Bade-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia. A Secondary Analysis of Gender, Interest in Science and Research, and the Intention to do a Doctorate

Abstract The article exhibits several differences between female and male students in Baden- Württemberg (Germany), Catalonia (Spain) and Rhônes-Alpes (France). Women often give intrinsic motivations in choosing their subjects, men on the other hand tend to be driven by extrinsic motivations. Moreover, women state more often than men that they face problems in their studies. Finally, although female students intend to do a PhD as often as male students, men still constitute the majority among PhD students. By applying several statistical tests we can show that the relatively low number of women doing a PhD cannot be attributed to a lack of interest in science and research among female students. While this interest has a positive effect on the intention to do a PhD, it does not differ by gender but by subject. Key words: sociology of education, higher education, students, gender, intention to do a PhD, interest in science and research. Resum. Les estudiants a les universitats de Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes i Catalunya. Una anàlisi secundària de gènere de l’interès per la ciència i la recerca i de la intenció de fer un doctorat L’article exposa unes quantes diferències entre els estudiants femenins i masculins a Baden- Württemberg (Alemanya), Catalunya (Espanya) i Rhône-Alpes (França). Sovint, les dones tendeixen a conduir-se per motivacions intrínseques en el moment d’escollir el tipus d’estudis, mentre que els homes ho fan més aviat per motivacions extrínseques. A més, les dones declaren que han d’afrontar més problemes en els seus estudis que no pas els homes. Finalment, tot i que les estudiants tenen la mateixa intenció de fer un doctorat tan sovint com els estudiants masculins, aquests encara constitueixen la majoria d’estudiants de doctorat. Aplicant diferents proves estadístiques, es pot demostrar que el nombre relativament baix de dones que fan un doctorat no es pot atribuir a una manca d’interès per la ciència 1. This article is based on a presentation given by Bettina Grimmer at a conference of FREREF at the Villa Vigoni in May 2004. The written report of that presentation can be found in the documentation of that conference (Grimmer, 2004). We would like to thank Tino Bargel and Willi Nagl for their support and assistance. Papers 76, 2005 199-215 Female Students at Universities in Baden- Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia1 A Secondary Analysis of Gender, Interest in Science and Research, and the Intention to do a Doctorate Bettina Grimmer Tobias Röhl University of Konstanz. Department of History and Sociology [email protected] [email protected] Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 199 i la recerca entre els estudiants femenins. Mentre que aquest interès té un efecte positiu sobre la intenció de fer un doctorat, no es diferencia pel gènere sinó pel tema. Paraules clau: sociologia de l’educació, ensenyament superior, estudiants, gènere, intenció de fer un doctorat, interès per la ciència i la recerca. 1. Introduction In the last decades research on gender has become an important issue in several areas of sociology. One important theorem of most feministic theories is the assumption of «male dominated»society. Most Western societies are organised by masculine rules, values and rituals, and women take this domination for granted without thinking critically about it in their everyday lives. This is what Bourdieu called the «paradoxe de la doxa»(cf. Bourdieu, 1998). Our analysis belongs to the area of sociology of higher education, and if we consider Bourdieu’s assumption of the masculine domination we have to research the situation of women at universities, which is in that sense also a «masculine institution»(cf. «Die männliche Prägung der Universität», Peisert, 1967). The data we use is taken from a student survey that has been conducted in three European regions: Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia. It is our aim to treat these three areas separately and compare them. The first part of this article deals with a descriptive presentation of gender inequalities on the undergraduate level. First of all, we observe the quantitative aspect: Given the fact that female students are no longer a minority at universities, what are the proportions of women if one considers different subjects? The next question concerns the qualitative aspect: What were the motivation for the choice of subject for both genders and what are the differences? Furthermore, we have a look at the study situation of women: What about their integration and their contacts, and do they have more problems than men during their studies? The last issue focuses on the intentions of female students to do a doctoral thesis. The second part of this article observes the next level of the academic ladder, and tries to answer the question why women do not do a doctorate as often as men. To explain this discrepancy there are two approaches in feministic theory. The first one tries to find an explanation in the attitudes and beliefs of women themselves; the second one holds university and its struc- 200 Papers 76, 2005 Bettina Grimmer; Tobias Röhl Summary 1. Introduction 2. Data 3. General results 4. Gender, interest in science and research, and the intention to do a doctorate 5. Conclusion and Outlook 6. Appendix References Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 200 tures responsible for the lower number of women. Our sample only enables us to follow the first approach and observe individual aspects on the level of students. Hence, we try to find out if female students have a lower interest in science and research and are thus less likely to do a PhD than males. To answer this question we apply interferential statistics. 2. Data In the context of FREREF («Fondation des Régions Européennes pour la Recherche en Éducation et Formation»), the three regions of Baden- Württemberg (Tino Bargel, Konstanz), Rhône-Alpes (Charles Hadji, Grenoble) and Catalonia (Josep Masjuan, Barcelona) organised a survey to observe similarities and differences between the situation of the students in those three regions. In Baden-Württemberg, the data is part of the German student survey realised in winter semester 2000/2001. This postal self-administered questionnaire was sent to undergraduate students of all semesters. The region is represented by the two universities of Karlsruhe and Freiburg. The sample consists of 984 students. In Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia, data was collected in spring 2002. In these regions the questionnaires were given to students in their courses. These samples consist solely of third year students because they are more experienced in their studies. The presence of students of all subject groups is controlled by different subject quotas. In Rhône-Alpes the sample consists of the three universities of Grenoble, the three universities of Lyon and the universities of St. Etienne and Savoie. In Catalonia, it is mainly represented by the universities of Barcelona and Lleida. The Catalonian sample consists of 1,823 students, whereas the one of Rhône-Alpes includes 1,230 students (see for further information about the sample Bargel, Hadji and Masjuan, 2003: IIf). 3. General results 3.1. Percentage of women in different subjects In the last 30 years, the number of female students in higher education has increased significantly. About 50% of students in all three regions considered here are women (see table 1). In Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia, the proportion of female students is even slightly above 50%. However, there are significant differences in the distribution of gender not only in terms of subject studied, but also in terms of motivations and attitudes before and during the studies. In Baden-Württemberg, the overall proportion of women in all subjects is smaller than that of men (42%), in Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia, it is above that level (62% and 61%). However, the access of female and male students to different subjects varies considerably. In all of the three regions women Female Students at Universities in Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia Papers 76, 2005 201 Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 201 dominate the humanities and languages; this effect is especially strong in Rhône-Alpes. A similar pattern is observable in the social sciences and in medicine. While in Baden-Württemberg the number of women studying law equals that of male law students, there are once again more women than men in Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia. In the subject of economics the Baden- Württembergian women are in the minority (34%), whereas in both of the other regions they constitute about 50% of students. The same situation can be observed in natural sciences. In Baden-Württemberg, the proportion of women in information engineering is very low, as well as in physics and chemistry. In Rhône-Alpes, more than half of the students are female in all of the subjects except for information engineering. In Catalonia, the spread of the distribution of women is the largest: there are only 15% in information engineering and 84% in biology. These patterns of differences between regions cannot be found in the subject of engineering. It is very strongly dominated by men in all three regions. Again, differences between the regions can be identified. In Catalonia, 21% of students in engineering are women, whereas in Rhône-Alpes only 9% of those students are female. 202 Papers 76, 2005 Bettina Grimmer; Tobias Röhl Table 1. Proportions of women in the subjects among the respondents in the three regions (in per cent). Baden-Württemberg Rhône-Alpes Catalonia Subjects (981) (1.209) (1.791) Humanities, languages 67 85 72 - History 46 69 58 - Languages 79 91 82 Social sciences 67 85 79 - Psychology/pedagogy 85 88 91 - Political sc./sociology 43 71 66 Law 49 75 78 Economics 34 46 55 Medicine 61 76 77 Natural sciences 34 54 53 - Mathematics 38 69 61 - Information engineering 13 33 15 - Physics/chemistry 27 50 54 - Biology 55 68 84 Engineering 14 9 21 Total 42 62 61 Source: FREREF Student Survey 2000-2002, Barcelona/Grenoble/Konstanz. Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 202 Hence, a similarity can be recognised between the three regions and the percentage of women in the different subjects. There are «female subjects»like humanities, languages and social sciences, and there are «male subjects» like information engineering and physics/chemistry. The percentages are quite similar in both Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia. On a lower level the same effects can be recognised in Baden-Württemberg. 3.2. Motivations for the choice of subject The choice of subject is influenced by the different expectations students have towards their subjects. Across all subjects women are on average more likely to choose their subject because of interest in the subject and idealistic reasons (intrinsic motivations), while men more often emphasise material motivations and the possibility to achieve a high social status (extrinsic motivations) (cf. Bradley, 2000: 11; Bargel et al, 1984). Yet, considering the different motivations in specific subjects, one can see that men who are studying female subjects such as humanities, languages and social sciences also give idealistic reasons. And women who are studying male subjects such as economics and engineering are also motivated by materialistic reasons (cf. Grimmer, 2004). This result seems to affirm the thesis that «differences between students of different disciplines [..] [are; B.G., T.R.] greater than differences between the sexes»(Thomas, 1990: 26). This fact could be one possible explanation for the different distribution of gender and subject: in general, women seem to have other intentions than men — and because of that they choose subjects they believe to be appropriate to realise their aims in the best way. (For an overview on how students perceive feminine and masculine disciplines see Thomas, 1990: 36f.) 3.3. Women’s study situation: contacts, integration, difficulties and stress There seem to be no differences in the integration of women as opposed to that of men at university. All students are satisfied with the relations between students and teaching staff —there are no differences in terms of gender and regions. Furthermore, Catalonian women are even slightly more satisfied with their contacts than the other groups (cf. Bargel, Hadji and Masjuan, 2003: 103-108). In spite of that, during their studies women seem to have more difficulties and stress than men (see table 2). They experience more pressure in coping with exams than their male colleagues and have more problems with the social climate (measured by competition between students and difficulties with contacts to teaching staff). Furthermore, they are more likely to have anxieties about failing their studies and they are more anxious about future exams. These results seem to confirm the thesis that women feel less comfortable at universities than men (cf. Krüger, 1986: 251). The findings of the German student survey lead to the same conclusion (for a more detailed discussion see Sandberger, 1992: 16ff). Female Students at Universities in Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia Papers 76, 2005 203 Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 203 3.4. Intentions to do a doctorate At first glance, in each of the regions women and men do not differ significantly in their intentions to do a PhD (see chart 1). One can rather find differences between the observed regions: in Baden-Württemberg, the percentage of students having those intentions is the highest, whereas in Rhône-Alpes it is the lowest. If we take a closer look at the figures and distinguish between subjects, a more complex relationship is revealed (see table 3). Baden-Württembergian men intend to earn a doctorate after graduation more often than women do in all of the subjects. In some disciplines, like law and social sciences, men are twice as likely to state that they intend to do a PhD, while in others they are only slightly above the level of women. In Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia, there are some subjects like law in which women exceed men in their intention to do a PhD, and others like engineering in which women are less likely to express such an intention2. 204 Papers 76, 2005 Bettina Grimmer; Tobias Röhl 2. A chi2test was conducted for each subject separately to figure out if this relationship between gender and the intention to do a PhD (v173) is significant. Unfortunately the number of cells with expected frequencies of <5 was too large (>20%). Still, we believe that there is a significant relationship between those variables, if we take subjects into account. Table 2. Difficulties and stress with exams, contacts and study success (Percentages, categories 5 + 6; scale 0 – 6) Baden-Württemberg Rhône-Alpes Catalonia male female male female male female Stress with exams I am anxious about exams most of the time 16 39 37 57 31 46 During exams I am often very excited and nervous 13 23 24 28 13 23 Difficulties to prepare exams efficiently 55 53 66 73 69 75 Difficulties with contacts Difficulties with competition between the students 14 21 19 28 23 31 Difficulties with contacts to the teaching staff 29 29 38 45 46 48 Stress with study success and future exams I am often worried whether I will manage my studies 15 18 18 37 11 19 Stress caused by future exams 31 41 24 39 26 39 Source: FREREF Student Survey 2000-2002, Barcelona/Grenoble/Konstanz. Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 204 Female Students at Universities in Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia Papers 76, 2005 205 Chart 1. Intention of female and male students to do < PhD (a doctoral thesis) at universities in the three regions (Percentages). Source: FREREF Student Survey 2000-2002, Barcelona/Grenoble/Konstanz. Baden-Württemberg No Perhaps Rather sure Very sure 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Rhône-Alpes No Perhaps Rather sure Very sure 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Catalonia No Perhaps Rather sure Very sure Female Male 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 205 If we compare those results with the official statistics on first degree and PhD graduates, we get a paradoxical result. Despite the fact that about half (45%) of the German graduates in 2000 were women, they constituted only about a third (33.4%) of PhD graduates (cf. European Commission, 2002: 101ff). In France, 56.5% of graduates in 1999 were female, while their number among PhD graduates was 41.1%. A similar situation can be found in Spain, where a large number (59.7%) of graduates was female in 1999. Yet, women only made up 43.8% of graduate students with a PhD. How can this decrease in numbers of women on the higher levels of the academic ladder be explained? Moreover, how can it be explained, if we take into account that overall women and men do not seem to differ in their intentions to earn a doctorate? These are the two questions we will try to answer in the next chapter. 4. Gender, interest in science and research, and the intention to do a doctorate In recent years there has been a rising awareness among policy makers for the low proportion of women among PhD students. A number of reports has been published to explore this topic on a European level and the European Commission has founded the so-called Helsinki Group and the ETAN group to advise policy makers on how to increase equality in science (e. g. European Commission, 2000, 2002). The pattern of gender inequality in science is similar in all the European countries. The further up one looks at the academic ladder, the less women and the more men one finds. For women a career in 206 Papers 76, 2005 Bettina Grimmer; Tobias Röhl Table 3. Intention to do a PhD by gender and subject (per cent; collapsed categories «probably» and «certainly») Baden-Württemberg Rhône-Alpes Catalonia (973) (1,208) (1,775) mf mf mf Humanities 17.3 15.4 5.6 11.2 38.1 21.4 Social sciences 31.3 18.2 25.8 8.2 20.4 17.7 Law 51.8 28.0 2.8 9.1 4.0 15.4 Economics 11.7 5.4 15.9 5.1 11.1 13.8 Medicine 88.3 68.8 80.0 95.8 23.7 20.5 Natural sciences 36.9 32.9 17.2 15.1 26.7 16.0 Engineering 15.2 9.5 6.8 0.0 22.5 10.3 Others 16.1 6.4 - - - - Total 29.1 26.8 14.5 15.8 20.2 17.4 Source: FREREF Student Survey 2000-2002, Barcelona/Grenoble/Konstanz. Papers 76 001-249 16/1/06 12:07 Página 206 science can be compared to a «leaky pipeline»or an «obstacle course»(Epstein, 1991). How can this decreasing number of women on higher levels of the academic career be explained? 4.1. Theory and hypotheses In the literature on the role of gender in higher education and science we can find two broad explanations for the relatively small number of women pursuing a career in science (cf. Krais, 2000a: 17ff). While some research focuses on the women themselves, other social scientists look for explanations in the role science and university play. The latter approach can be described as structural and tries to reveal the specific barriers and discriminations inherent to the scientific community (e. g. Krais, 2000b; Geenen, 2000; Bielby, 1991). Thus, the structures and mechanisms of science itself are the objects of research in structural approaches. Others look for explanations in the women and their characteristics themselves and can be described as individualistic. Among them we can distinguish between those that emphasise that the life patterns of women are different from those of men (e. g. Bauer, 1993) and those that focus on the attitudes and beliefs of women (e. g. Beck-Gernsheim, 1980). The questionnaire of the FREREF student surveys allows us to test hypotheses of those individualistic approaches that focus on the attitudes and beliefs of women. The rules, structures and mechanisms of science and university can hardly be grasped in it. Therefore, we will try to examine carefully whether an individualistic approach can explain the discrepancy between the intention of women to do a PhD and the actual number of women doing a PhD. In the early 1980s, Dippelhofer-Stiem conducted research on different study styles in German higher education (Dippelhofer-Stiem, 1986). The results of this panel study of students in different subjects lead her to the conclusion that women are less likely to study in a way that is characterised by a critical interest in science and the subject beyond the curriculum. Furthermore, she found out that female students emphasised the importance of science and research in their lives less often than their male counterparts in the same subjects did. According to role theory, this would mean that women acquire a different attitude towards science and research during their socialisation (cf. Beck- Gernsheim, 1980). These attitudes are rooted in a more general system of gender differences that are the result of different expectations of parents and other adults towards children according to their gender. Such expectations relate to the way a girl/boy should behave, dress, move, and talk, what her/his interests are and what frightens her/him etc. (cf. Beck-Gernsheim, 1980: 14). 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