Female Professors Program of Federal and States Governments III

  Copyright: © Martin Braun

In the German science system, equality between women and men decreases with each higher stage of the academic career. In 2020, the proportion of women was 51.7% in university degrees, 45.1% in doctorates, 35.1% in habilitations, and 26.3% in professorships (see Federal Statistical Office; as of November 3, 2021). This means that although more than half of all university graduates are women, only about a quarter of all professors are.

 

Therefore, in 2010, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research initiated the Female Professors Program in order to increase in the number of female professors and to establish and expand gender equality structures at German universities. In the current third round, the Integration Team - Human Resources, Gender and Diversity Management (IGaD) at RWTH Aachen University successfully acquired funding for three professorships for a period of five years and is using the funds that become available to finance measures for young female researchers.

The following gender equality measures are implemented between January 2019 and February 2025:

• Qualification positions for female postdocs in the STEM fields or in the field of medicine / life sciences
• Flexible Career Management for Women in Academia (FCM), including the Mentoring Program TANDEMplus for female postdocs (in English)
• Career advancement and networking for young female researchers
• Offers for schoolgirls to take up studies in the STEM fields
• Development of a Gender Portal of RWTH Aachen University in order to raise awareness of managers