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Women are rare in top positions in Swiss universities. They report unequal treatment and distrust.
“I had a research area for which I needed a relatively large amount of laboratory space,” reports physics professor Ursula Keller. “And that suddenly became an issue. The reason was the ego of my male colleagues. They thought: They can’t have more space than we do.”
Ursula Keller has been researching laser technology at the ETH in Zurich for 30 years. She says it has always been difficult for her as a woman. Ursula Keller is one of many professors that SRF spoke to. Not everyone wanted to express themselves in front of the camera, especially not professors at the beginning of their careers.
Ardemis Boghossian, on the other hand, believes that grievances should be addressed. The assistant professor of nanobiotechnology at the EPFL in Lausanne has repeatedly experienced that she and her colleagues were treated differently than men.
“I have to do more to achieve the same thing,” she says. Women would have to contribute more to a work – and prove it more – in order to be allowed to put their name on a corresponding paper.
Academic papers are the “currency” that determine advancement in an academic career.
The Association of Swiss Universities confirms that there are inequalities between women and men when it comes to professorships: “This is reflected in the fact that the academic careers of talented female researchers often stagnate or end prematurely.”
The association comes to this conclusion, although it emphasizes that all universities have taken measures to increase equal opportunities. Fundamental changes are necessary.
The Swiss National Science Foundation has launched projects and funding that are specifically aimed at female professors. This is necessary because studies have shown that women have less time for their research than men, says Equal Opportunities Officer Jasmine Lorenzini: “They have to teach a little more, have a little more students to look after, have a little less time for their publications. So they progress more slowly in their academic careers.”
I was told you’ll never get that chance again.
Astrid Epiney is just one of two female rectors at a Swiss university. She has headed the University of Freiburg for eight years. She says she was lucky as a woman and was always encouraged to take further steps.
But she too has felt that science is rocky terrain, especially for mothers. In the early years of her professorship, she twice turned down guest professorships in Canada because she had small children. “I was then told relatively nonchalantly: You will never get this chance again. It’s really bad for your career now.”
Part-time work is punished.
Anna Elsner, award-winning assistant professor of French literature and culture at the University of St. Gallen, sees a glass ceiling for women both before and after they attain the professorship. Like the Swissuniversities association, she calls for “courage to take less straightforward CVs”.
It takes about “a completely different valorization of part-time work. At the moment, this is ultimately being punished, even if it is a good solution that does not reduce quality in a society stricken by time poverty.”
ETH physicist Ursula Keller is also concerned about not badmouthing her profession. She says: “A professorship is a dream job, an absolute dream job.”