"We are finding that we fill a gap," says Laila Bokhari, who is coordinator of Women and Security, one of the 15 new and existing networks gaining new impetus this spring with funding from the Committee for Mainstreaming – Women in Science.

In April 2009 the Norwegian Government presented a new white paper on research policy. In the report the Government confirms its commitment to gender equality in research, but critics say progress is too slow.

The majority of young girls reject science studies, but not everyone. What makes girls choose these male-dominated subjects? That is what Marianne Løken wants to find out.

More men than women receive funding when the Research Council of Norway grants money for outstanding research. Susanne Moen Stephansen has looked at how the attempts to bring more gender equality into these schemes have worked.

In November last year Tora Aasland promised to implement earmarking of temporary posts for women. Now the Efta Surveillance Authority (ESA) has put a stop to these plans.

A recent report from the Norwegian research institute NIFU STEP shows that men outnumber women within commercial and business-oriented research and that female researchers are less involved in international collaboration and peer review than their male colleagues.

The capital of western Norway came out on top when the Gender Equality Award for 2008 was presented jointly to the University of Bergen and the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (MHH).

Hierarchies and lack of management prevent women from climbing to the top in academia, says Curt Rice, the new Pro-Rector at the University of Tromsø. He calls for more management and different work methods at the university.

There is little difference in how Ghanaian girls and boys view science education and technology. In Norway, Sweden, Finland and England, on the other hand, the gender gap regarding what the pupils are interested in is huge.

Numbers suggest that women are lagging behind in Norwegian innovation. A narrow and outdated definition of innovation explains why, says Elisabet Ljunggren at Nordland Research Institute.

Female professors feel that they spend more time teaching after the introduction of the Quality Reform, the Norwegian follow-up to the Bologna Declaration. Women, to a larger degree than men, also say that the reform has changed their methods of teaching.

The University of Oslo is the first scholarly institution that has looked at its budgets from a gender equality perspective. The survey suggests that male researchers at the University get more money than their female colleagues.

The Ministry of Education and Research has established a new gender equality award worth two million Norwegian kroner. The award will go to the institution that has done the most to promote women in science.

Women leave the field of science, both during and after the studies. But why? A new research project at the University of Oslo aims to find out.