Why do women leave academia after completing a PhD?

The proportion of women in academia progressively decreases with advancing career stages. This phenomenon is known as the leaky pipeline. It means that women are 'leaking out' of the academic pipeline.

It affects all fields of research. However, the problem is particularly accentuated within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – the STEM disciplines.

The above table shows the ratio of female to male at STEM (FTE), Radboud University in the Netherlands in 2014. Starting with 35 per cent female to 65 per cent male at PhD-level, the number decreases to 11 per cent female to 89 per cent male at the highest level of permanent position.

The number of female candidates dramatically decreases from master’s to PhD, and continues declining at the postdoc/researcher level, reaching the lowest point at full professorship.

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