The Women Professors Programme 2030 (PP 2030) is a funding programme run by the federal and state governments to promote gender equality in academia and research at German universities. Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg is participating in this programme with a specially developed gender equality strategy for parity, which builds on the university’s long-standing work on gender equality and strategically advances it further.
At JMU, the programme is coordinated by the Office of the University Women’s Representative in close consultation with the Vice-Presidency for Equal Opportunities, Career Planning and Sustainability. The programme is implemented across three thematic funding streams – STEM, work-life balance and international – which are derived from the areas of action defined in the equality plan.
The proportion of women in academia at German universities has risen steadily over recent decades. Nevertheless, an analysis of academic career progression reveals a consistent pattern: the proportion of women decreases with each successive career stage. This phenomenon is referred to in gender equality research as the ‘leaky pipeline’.
At the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, the situation in 2024 is as follows: whilst women make up the majority of students (around 62 per cent) and doctoral candidates (around 54 per cent), their proportion among fixed-term academic staff with a doctorate falls to around 40 per cent. Among professors in the W2/C3/C2 categories, the figure stands at 30 per cent, and among chair holders at 26 per cent. The sharpest decline thus occurs after the doctoral phase – at the transition point where academic career paths are largely determined.
This imbalance is particularly pronounced in the STEM subjects: in the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science and in the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, the proportion of female students stands at 25 per cent and 24 per cent respectively – and this trend continues at the corresponding qualification levels.
The PP 2030 addresses these structures and views support not as a means of compensating for individual shortcomings, but as a contribution to changing the institutional framework.
Data source: Gender Equality Monitoring 2024 (not yet published)
Based on a strengths and weaknesses analysis of women’s representation on university bodies, in professorial posts and among early-career researchers, JMU has formulated three overarching gender equality objectives for the PP 2030:
Objective 1 – Promoting a culture of parity through gender mainstreaming. Gender equality measures, which have so far been coordinated predominantly at central level, are to be increasingly implemented at faculty, Institute and chair level as well. JMU aims to embed gender equality as a cross-cutting issue in all areas of university work as a matter of course, thereby creating the conditions for a structurally gender-equitable working and research environment. An annual increase of 0.8 percentage points in the proportion of female professors has been defined as a quantitative target.
Objective 2 – Developing potential: actively supporting early-career female researchers from the outset. Previous support schemes often only began during the doctoral or postdoctoral phase. JMU has therefore set itself the objective of promoting women’s careers in academia from the undergraduate level onwards and – in subjects with a low proportion of female students – even from secondary school onwards. Existing measures are to be continued, adapted to changing circumstances and supplemented by high-profile initiatives that raise the national and international profile of female researchers at JMU.
Objective 3 – Increase the attractiveness of JMU as a centre of research and as an employer for (international) women.Outstanding female researchers often complete their training at several locations both in Germany and abroad. The choice of location is influenced not only by academic criteria but also by personal needs – in particular, family-friendly conditions and dual-career opportunities. JMU therefore aims to expand work-life balance support, improve dual-career options and strengthen its profile as a university that offers equal opportunities in the international academic market.
Each of the three funding streams under the PP 2030 programme at JMU brings together several coordinated measures designed to tackle specific structural barriers on the path to a professorship.
MINT addresses the situation of women in the subject groups of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology, where under-representation begins as early as the undergraduate stage and continues at all subsequent qualification levels. Planned measures include, amongst other things, a structured analysis of drop-out rates, the development of faculty-specific mentoring schemes, the involvement of schoolgirls through outreach programmes and short work placements following on from existing school partnerships, as well as the promotion of gender-sensitive teaching and subject-specific didactics. A dedicated coordination office will be established to coordinate the decentralised MINT measures.
The ‘Vereinbarkeit’ initiative builds on the existing WÜkit pilot programme, which is funded from the university’s own resources, and specifically extends work-life balance measures to international female academics and researchers. Planned initiatives include, amongst other things, a multilingual online information platform for newly arrived academic families, social gatherings, an international family mentoring/sponsorship programme, and Welcome Assistants who provide support with official and administrative procedures. In addition, the WueCare programme aims to ease the burden on postdoctoral researchers and junior lecturers with family responsibilities by funding substitute teaching staff and support staff; a return-to-work grant is designed to support female academics returning to work after a family leave period.
Internationally, JMU draws on its established partnerships within the COIMBRA Group and the CHARM-EU Alliance to create career-enhancing, accessible opportunities for early-career female researchers in an international context. A key event is the annual International Career Day, which brings together female academics from JMU and international researchers for networking, keynote speeches and career workshops. In parallel, decentralised networks of female researchers – such as the Grete Hermann Network for female physicists, Women@WiWi or the HCI Mentoring Circle – are to be strengthened and linked with international partner networks. Exploratory talks with the Universitat de Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin and the Universiteit Utrecht have already laid the foundations for a joint European career development programme.
The Women Professors Programme 2030 is a programme run by the federal and state governments, which provides funding to German universities on the basis of a gender equality plan that has been positively assessed. At the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, it is coordinated by the Office of the University Women’s Representative.
Strategic integration is managed by the Vice-Presidency for Equal Opportunities, Career Planning and Sustainability, which develops the university’s overarching gender equality strategy in collaboration with central and decentralised stakeholders.
The three funding streams of PP 2030 are each managed by their own teams, which work closely with the participating faculties and central university bodies. The contact persons for the individual funding streams are listed on the respective subpages.
