In 2009, women in scientific research accounted for 33 % of
researchers in the EU. Their proportion since 2002 is growing
faster than that of men (5.1 % annually, compared with 3.3 % for
men). Over the same period a similar pattern is followed by the
proportion of women among scientists and engineers (5.4 % annual
increase, compared with 3.1 % for men). On average, the balance
between female and male researchers in the EU-27 is better in
the government and higher education sector than it is in the
business enterprise sector, as in both sectors on average in
2009 the proportion of female researchers was of 40%, while in
Business enterprise sector the proportion falls to 19%. In the
EU-27, 59 % of all PhD graduates were women in 2010; they equal
or outnumber men in all broad fields of study, except for
science, mathematics and computing (40 %), and engineering,
manufacturing and construction (26 %), the two fields with the
highest overall number of PhD graduates. Over the period
2002–2009, female researchers we