Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Participation of women in doctorate, research, innovation, and management activities at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid: analysis of the decade 2006–2016

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article studies the participation of women in doctorate, lecturing and research, innovation, and management activities at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), the most important and largest university in Spain devoted to engineering and architecture. The analyses revealed significant differences in the ratio of male (76%) and female (24%) lecturing and research staff. This unequal ratio conducted to women underrepresentation in other actions such as coordination of international projects, decision-making designations, patenting and software licensing, collaboration with companies, and PhD supervision. PhD enrolment and PhD defence data, disaggregated by gender and by technological area, were also analysed as they are the starting point of the academic career, and showed a widespread male prevalence over women (ca. 70% men vs. 30% women). The aim of this paper is to present actual, accurate, objective, and gender-segregated information extracted from UPM databases, to carry out a qualitative study drawing on an opinion survey and a “gap” analysis, and to undertake a critical examination of the historic, political, sociocultural and personal factors affecting gender inequalities in academia. Policy recommendations to improve the situation of women and to achieve gender balance in the disciplines of engineering and architecture are also provided.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. www.ine.es/en/welcome.shtml.

  2. https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/am509774cee_en_e4.pdf.

  3. http://www.mecd.gob.es/portada-mecd/.

  4. https://www.oepm.es/en/index.html.

  5. College of Physicians of Barcelona.

  6. http://www.upm.es/sfs/Rectorado/Gerencia/Igualdad/Documentos/PLAN%20DE%20IGUALDAD%20DE%20G%C3%89NERO%20EN%20LA%20UPM.pdf.

References

  • Albert, C., Davia, M. A., & Legazpe, N. (2016a). Job satisfaction amongst academics: The role of research productivity. Studies in Higher Education, 1, 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1255937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albert, C., Davia, M. A., & Legazpe, N. (2016b). Determinants of research productivity in Spanish academia. European Journal of Education, 51(4), 535–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asksnes, D. W., Rørstad, K., Piro, F., & Sivertsen, G. (2011). Are female researchers less cited? A large-scale study of Norwegian scientists. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(4), 628–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borrego, A., Barrios, M., Villarroya, A., & Ollé, C. (2010). Scientific output and impact of postdoctoral scientists: A gender perspective. Scientometrics, 83(1), 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cervia, S., & Biancheri, R. (2017). Women in science: The persistence of traditional gender roles. A case study on work-life interface. European Educational Research Journal, 16(2–3), 215–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheryan, S., Ziegler, A., & Montoya, A. K. (2017). Why are some STEM fields more gender balanced than others? Psychological Bulletin, 143(1), 1–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission. (2015). She figures 2015. Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Brussels, Luxembourg; European Union. https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/she_figures_2015-final.pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • European Commission. (2017). Report on equality between women and men in the EU. Directorate General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission, Brussels, Luxembourg; European Union. https://doi.org/10.2838/52591.

  • Gafni, D., & Siniver, E. (2015). Is there a motherhood wage penalty for highly skilled women? The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 15(3), 1353–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García-Maroto, P. (2016). Women at UPM. Estadísticas de Género en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2nd Edn. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid; Spain. http://www.upm.es/sfs/Rectorado/Gerencia/Igualdad/Documentos/Women%20at%20UPM%20(2%C2%AA%20edici%C3%B3n).pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • Gaule, P., & Piacentini, M. (2017). An advisor like me? Advisor gender and post-graduate careers in science. IZA Discussion Papers 10828, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

  • Herrmann, S. D., Adelman, R. M., Bodford, J. E., et al. (2016). The effects of a female role model on academic performance and persistence of women in STEM courses. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38(5), 258–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C. C., Schilt, K., Gorman, B. K., & Bratter, J. L. (2017). Framing the faculty gender gap: A view from STEM doctoral students. Gender, Work and Organization, 24(4), 398–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J., Garant, J.-P., Herman, H., & Munroe, D. J. (2013). Why are women underrepresented amongst patentees? Research Policy, 42(4), 831–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipinsky, A. (2013). Gender equality policies in public research: Based on a survey among members of the Helsinki group on gender in research and innovation. Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Brussels, Luxembourg; European Union. http://ec.europa.eu/research/pdf/199627_2014%202971_rtd_report.pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • Meschitti, V., & Smith, H. L. (2017). Does mentoring make a difference for women academics? Evidence from the literature and a guide for future research. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 7(1), 166–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno, L., González, Y., Segura, I., & Martínez, P. (2014). Mujeres, Ciencia y Tecnología. Encuesta sobre la percepción de las dificultades de las mujeres en los estudios universitarios técnicos. In XV International conference on human computer interaction (pp. 464–471). Tenerife, Spain.

  • Navarro-Guzmán, C., & Casero-Martínez, A. (2012). Analysis of gender differences in degree choice. Estudios sobre Educación, 22, 115–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nimmesgern, H. (2016). Why are women underrepresented in STEM fields? Chemistry-A European Journal, 22(11), 3529–3530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okoń-Horodyńska, E., Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz, A., Wisła, R., & Sierotowicz, T. (2016). Gender, innovative capacity, and the process of innovation: A case of Poland. Economics and Sociology, 9(1), 252–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ovseiko, P. V., Greenhalgh, T., Adams, P., et al. (2016). A global call for action to include gender in research impact assessment. Health Research Policy and SYSTEMS, 14(1), 50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastor, J. M., Peraita, C., & Soler, A. (2016). Higher education as modulator of gender inequalities: Evidence of the Spanish case. Higher Education Policy, 29(1), 63–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Artieda, G., Gubia, E., Barrenechea, E. et al. (2014). Analysis of women enrollment in Engineering programs at the Public University of Navarre. In IEEE Frontiers in education conference (FIE) (pp. 466–473).

  • Puy, A. (2015). Científicas en Cifras. Women and Science Unit (UMyC), Cabinet of the State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/stfls/MICINN/Ministerio/FICHEROS/Informe_Cientificas_en_Cifras_2015_con_Anexo.pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • Rørstad, K., & Asksnes, D. W. (2015). Publication rate expressed by age, gender and academic position—A large-scale analysis of Norwegian academic staff. Journal of Informetrics, 9(2), 317–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salazar Benítez, O. (2016). The fragility of gender equality policies in Spain. Social Sciences, 5(2), 17–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez de Madariaga, I. (2013). Women at UPM. Gender Statistics at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Fundación General de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid; Spain. http://www.upm.es/sfs/Rectorado/Gerencia/Igualdad/Documentos/WOMEN%20at%20UPM.%20Informe%20TRIGGER.pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO). (2011). White paper on the position of Women in Science in Spain. Women and Science Unit (UMyC), Cabinet of the State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation. http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/stfls/MICINN/Ministerio/FICHEROS/UMYC/WhitePaper_Interactive.pdf. Accessed Oct 2017.

  • Stack, S. (2004). Gender, children and research productivity. Research in Higher Education, 45(8), 891–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Cupeiro, S., & Elston, M. A. (2006). Gender and academic career trajectories in Spain. From gendered passion to consecration into a Sistema Endogámico? Employee Relations, 28(6), 588–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villarroya, A., Barrios, M., Borrego, A., & Frías, A. (2008). PhD theses in Spain: A gender study covering the years 1990–2004. Scientometrics, 77(3), 469–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zufiaurre, B., Pellejero Goni, L., & Weiner, G. (2010). Gender equality and education in Spain: ideology and governance. Education Inquiry, 1(4), 399–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. We thank Miguel Ángel Lucas and Cristina Merino for extracting the raw data from S2i database; Carmen de Miguel and Valle Hernández for providing all the information about doctoral theses; and Carmen Pérez Nadal, Carmen Gascó and Effectia Consulting for carrying out the opinion survey and the “gap” analysis and processing the qualitative data. We also thank Paloma García-Maroto (UPM Equality Unit Director) and Guillermo de la Torre (Observatorio I + D + i UPM Unit) for assistance with the data provided in the Electronic Supplementary Material. We also thank the Vice-Rectorate for Technology Services for extracting the raw data from AGORA database.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vice-Rectorate for Research, Innovation, and Doctoral Studies, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Ramiro de Maeztu 7, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Estela Hernández-Martín, Fernando Calle, Juan C. Dueñas, Miguel Holgado & Asunción Gómez-Pérez

Authors
  1. Estela Hernández-Martín
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fernando Calle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juan C. Dueñas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Miguel Holgado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Asunción Gómez-Pérez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asunción Gómez-Pérez.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hernández-Martín, E., Calle, F., Dueñas, J.C. et al. Participation of women in doctorate, research, innovation, and management activities at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid: analysis of the decade 2006–2016. Scientometrics 120, 1059–1089 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03179-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03179-9

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation