The Purpose

It is widely acknowledged that the global scientific workforce is under-utilizing a large percentage of the available talent pool. Although the situation differs widely from country to country, there is a remarkable consistency in one sobering pattern: the percentage of women in physics, physical science and engineering in all countries decreases markedly with each step up the academic ladder and with each level of promotion in industrial and government laboratories.

The First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics was held in Paris, France, from March 7 to March 9, 2002.

The primary purpose of that event was to understand the severe under-representation of women worldwide and to develop strategies to increase their participation in physics.

In addition to organizing the conference, the IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics did an international benchmarking study on issues concerning women in physics. Demographic information on education and career attainment was collected from countries in all parts of the world and was analyzed by professional statisticians. This material and the results of the discussions at the conference were published in the proceedings, and are available freely on the internet.

Three years has passed since the event, and now it is an appropriate time to analyze the progress that was made and to check which strategies were successful in bringing and keeping women in physics.

Besides serving as a checking point of the progress, the Second IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics will be an opportunity to share experiences gained in the process by each one of different countries.

But this event is also bringing something new. In order to stimulate scientific interactions, there will be also a session for sharing the scientific developments of each one of the participants.