Whether students or lecturers: there were a lot more men than women at FHWS, particularly in the early days. Today, the proportion of women has increased in many faculties. But there is still an imbalance in the STEM field. FHWS is committed to increasing the proportion of women with various initiatives.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: women were significantly under-represented in the so-called STEM subjects in the past. In 1973, less than five percent of doctoral graduates in the STEM field in Germany were female according to the Competence Centre Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities. Although the proportion had risen to just under 34 percent by 2019, there is still a shortage of women in technical and scientific subjects. This is reflected throughout Germany in the number of academic staff and students. Although FHWS has a high number of female students in many faculties today, women are still under-represented in the STEM subjects. FHWS has various measures and support programmes in order to increase the proportion of women and to achieve equal opportunities in all areas of science.
The first initiatives for women
STEM taster days are one such offer for schoolgirls. "We make instant cocoa" or "Why does the springboard hold?" were two of the numerous workshops offered at FHWS for interested girls. Hands-on experiments encourage participants to get excited about technical and scientific subjects. Prof. Dr. Christiane Walter, who was teaching mechanical engineering at the time, took the initiative for the first taster days in Schweinfurt in 2000. As the women's affairs officer in her faculty, she sat on the appointment committee for new professorships. Her task was to ensure equality between women and men in the appointment process. "I realised that my membership of the commission could hardly change the situation," explains Walter, who was the only female professor at Schweinfurt for almost ten years. "How could I pay attention to equal opportunities if there were no female applicants at all?" Walter therefore saw a forward-looking solution in addressing a younger target group in order to ensure a new generation of women in science. Since being introduced, the taster days have been extended to both FHWS locations and took place for the 21st time last year.
In the short term, the taster days were unable to do anything about the lack of female professors, but over time the gender ratio among the students evened out: For example, while only ten female students were enrolled at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in 1999, the number had increased to 67 ten years later. But it was not only the Schweinfurt location and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering that were male-dominated in the early years. A look at the oldest degree programmes at FHWS explains why the number of male students was very high: the degree programmes that have existed since the founding year are Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Business and Engineering, Architecture, and Civil Engineering. The initial focus at FHWS was therefore exclusively on STEM subjects.
Further need for action in many areas
There are no records from the early years, but in the last twenty years the proportion of female students has increased almost continuously. In the 2020/21 winter semester, 42.7 percent of the 9,145 students at FHWS were female. In the individual faculties, however, the gender ratio is by no means as balanced as at FHWS as a whole: the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences is clearly dominated by women, with a proportion of 80 percent female students in the 2020/21 winter semester. Female students are also the majority at the Faculty of Visual Design at around 75 percent and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at just under 58 percent. However, female students are still under-represented in STEM faculties, with an overall proportion of just 23 percent.
Sonja Ehrenfels is the assistant to the women’s affairs officer at FHWS and, despite some progress in recent decades, still sees a need for action. "Many girls don't realise that they have the same opportunities as boys," Ehrenfels explains. "As long as this is not yet self-evident, our work is not done." The key tasks for Prof. Dr. Christina Völkl-Wolf, as the women’s affairs officer, and her team at FHWS include representing the interests of all women in teaching, whether that is students, professors, research associates or lecturers. Women should be informed about their career prospects through events and individual counselling. As part of this measure, FHWS also participates in the BayernMentoring programme. Here, female students in STEM fields are supported by mentors from the business world during their transition into the workplace.
Rising number of female professors at FHWS
In the future, women should also be recruited into areas in which they are currently under-represented when it comes to the university staff. "It is particularly difficult to increase the number of female professors," Ehrenfels explains. "We're making progress, but it's slow. All Bavarian higher education institutions are struggling with this." As a first step towards more female professors, the office of the women’s affairs officer informs female students about their opportunities for doctoral studies and supports young female scientists. There is also an initiative to recruit female professors at FHWS. In an agreement with the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture concluded in 2018, FHWS set itself the goal of increasing the proportion of female professors from 15.5 percent at the time to 17.9 percent by the end of 2021. Eva Kaupp is responsible for the initiative and very happy with the developments so far. “The goal is very ambitious, but we are on the right track”, she explains. "The proportion already already over 17 percent in the 2021 summer semester." In order to attract more female professors, it is important to increase the total number of applicants. It is not a question of favouring women in the application process. "The more female applicants we have, the higher the chances of a woman being appointed," Kaupp says. "At the end of the day, of course, qualifications are what matters."
In 2020, one third of newly appointed professorships were filled by women for the first time. The targets for the individual areas are based on the total number of female doctoral graduates in the respective subject. FHWS has already been able to exceed the targets in social sciences and in computer science and business information systems, but there is still work to be done in the other faculties. "Women with doctorates, professional experience and ideally a STEM focus are not easy to find," Kaupp explains. One important point, she said, was to get young women interested in studying and doing a doctorate in these fields in the first place. Walter's approach of placing the emphasis on addressing the young target group is still relevant after more than twenty years. From the STEM taster days through the BayernMentoring programme to the promotion of young female scientists, FHWS has today established a system that can make a long-term contribution to a higher proportion of women in previously male-dominated fields.
ProPere: Successful FHWS funding application for professorial staff recruitment and development
To inspire high-calibre applicants for professorships at FHWS and to support existing professorial staff in their professional development: FHWS was able to acquire funding of around 7.3 million euros with an application to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in June 2021 in order to be able to pursue these goals over the next six years. This will be used to launch projects to increase the visibility of FHWS as an employer, as well as to promote young talent, recruitment, and the work-life balance. "This grant is a great opportunity for FHWS. In conjunction with the Bavarian Higher Education Innovation Act, which is due to come into force soon, it allows us to pilot new measures for the recruitment and development of professorial staff, such as professorships with a specialisation, tenure track models and tandem programmes, with industry", says FHWS Vice President Prof. Dr. Gabriele Saueressig.
