Ambition without future. Obstacles and incentives in the scientific careers of men and women in optics.

Despite initiatives of universities and governments, women remain under represented in scientific research. This paper presents the preliminary results of an international comparative study addressing this issue in the field of micro-optics. The study consists of two surveys, focus groups and individual in-depth interviews. This paper will only present results of the first survey, in which 245 researchers in the field of micro-optics in 17 European countries participated. The survey focussed around 8 themes: the current position, career history, daily work activities, satisfaction, future ambitions, work values, work-family balance and perceived discrimination. Micro-optics is confronted with horizontal and vertical segregation. Results of the survey show that this cannot be explained by differences in career history, nor by a lack of women´s ambition: women in optics follow similar career paths and are significantly more ambitious than their male counterparts. Obstacles in women´s careers are the work environment and working conditions. Women are less satisfied with different aspects of their current job and have a higher intent to turnover. Women also perceive significantly more discrimination than men and have less confidence in the fairness of selection and promotion procedures. Although not perceived as an obstacle, household responsibilities influence women´s careers.