Support programs for women in research and higher education

In spite of the fact that the proportion of women professors at German universities is at a new high - with an unchanged total number of professors, it has risen from 8 to 15 percent since 1995 - women professors are, especially in traditional male domains such as natural sciences and engineering, still under-represented. Whereas in the humanities as well as in the language and cultural studies now over 20 percent of the chairs are occupied by women, the proportion of female professors in mathematics and science is only 10 percent, in engineering, even only 7 percent.
For this reason, federal and state governments agreed to a program that will help to create 200 new positions for professors at German universities over the next five years.
In addition, the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, promotes measures and projects on equal opportunities in universities and research institutions, which are briefly described below:

Center of Excellence Women and Science "(CEWS)
The international oriented Center of Excellence Women and Science (CEWS) promotes equal opportunities for women in science and research. It serves scientific and political bodies or institutions, scientists and companies as the national coordination, information and advisory service. The objective is the increase of the proportion of women in leading positions at universities and research institutions. The database FemConsult, with 7000 records of women scientists, is a key instrument for implementing this goal. Furthermore, the effectiveness of equality policies as well as the attention to gender issues in all areas of science and research are expected to be increased.

Encouragement to Advance
The project "Encouragement to Advance" has been launched with the aim to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions, especially in higher education. In order to optimize their career opportunities as part of applications for junior professorships, professorships and leadership positions in research, a special career and job training is offered to the members of the group. Since 2004, the application training is carried on continuously under the title "potentials" in cooperation between the German University Association (DHV) and the Center of Excellence Women and Science "(CEWS).

femtec.network - Career-promotion for female leaders in engineering and science
The project is turned on talented female students in the natural sciences or engineering, for whom the career support programs are developed, tested and evaluated in the context of the project The participants are equipped with multi-disciplinary key skills. They also receive assistance in planning their careers and build individual contacts with the professional world. In addition, an experienced executive of cooperating companies is a mentor for the participants. The project has the goal to promote equal opportunities and networking of female leaders in the natural and technical sciences.

Peer Mentoring
Peer mentoring is a concept for the career advancement of women in positions of non-university research institutions. The primary goal is the self-organized networking and mutual support of highly qualified postdoctoral researchers on the path to leadership positions. For the implementation of this goal peer mentoring groups as well as effective organizational skills training and financing schemes have been developed or tested.