The corporate world needs more scientists, but few young people choose a career in science. Will we finally break the science code?

In its proposition for the National budget, which was presented in the beginning of October, the Government states that it wants to focus on earmarking of academic posts for women.

For almost five years Norway has had a national committee for gender equality in science. It has placed women in science on the agenda both with the authorities and the research sector.

Minister of Education and Research Tora Aasland has said that she wants to implement national measures to promote gender equality in science. But do we know enough about the cause of the gender imbalance? The relationship between research and measures in academia has spurred debate in Norway this spring.

In Norway one in three university and university college rectors are women – an increase of 75 per cent in two years. All the same, we are having a hard time catching up with our Swedish neighbours, who, thanks to network building, are close to achieving full balance between the sexes.

An abridged version of the final report from the Committee for Mainstreaming – Women in Science in Norway is now available in English. The report is entitled Gender balance in higher education and research – golden opportunities.

New thinking on gender equality is taking place at Norwegian universities. In recent years the burden of responsibility has been moved, equal opportunities budgets have been increased by millions of Norwegian kroner and new initiatives have been put in place. We have checked the progress at two of the country’s universities.