The law is not enough

Trust is a good thing. But control is better. Lenin is supposed to have uttered these words and it has since become a truism. It certainly is valid for all the promises and good‐will declarations that have been made about giving women equal rights. Clearly, the subject of gender equality has not been top of the agenda in many countries over the last decade. The general attitude has been that the legal framework, drafted in response to the women's movement in the 1960s, was sufficient to ensure that all women have equal opportunities in the industrialised countries. But recent statistics concerning the role of women, particularly in the academic realm, show quite a different picture. The first wake‐up call was the publication of the ETAN (European Technology Assessment Network) report in 2000, showing that only a small number of women have risen to the highest ranks in the academic world. The report found that, on average, only 10% of full professorships or equivalent positions in Europe are held by women, despite the fact that men and women start out in equal numbers as undergraduates in the life sciences. Consequently, the ETAN report triggered a buzz of meetings and debates investigating why women disappear along the career path in academia and how to increase their presence in the higher echelons. One of the more factual outcomes was a Europe‐wide survey by the Helsinki group on the situation of women in science in the 15 EU member states and 15 associated states. This group, established in 1999 by the European Commission during the Finnish presidency—hence the name—was created to promote discussion and exchange experiences on the measures taken to promote women in research and to provide statistics for each country monitoring the results. The group is headed by Theresa Rees, Professor of …