Promoting Women at ETH
Diversity is one of ETH Zurich's success factors. This also includes the diverse commitment of women at all levels, whether as students and doctoral candidates, as assistant or full professors or as scientific, technical or administrative staff. The active promotion of women at all levels is therefore a high priority for ETH Zurich.
Present situation
Since the mid-1990s, more and more women have been studying and working at ETH. The proportion of women studying has increased most markedly. Today, around a third of students are women. ETH is very attractive for young women researchers from abroad. At present, the proportion of women is growing most strongly at the assistant professorship level. At the professorship level, however, the change towards a more balanced gender ratio continues to be slow. Nevertheless, the proportion of women is currently around 20%.
More and more women are showing that science offers them exciting and satisfying career paths. As pioneers, the women professors at ETH are paving the way for younger women to enter research. In the natural sciences and technology, female role models can be the deciding factor for talented young women to choose subjects that have long been considered atypical for women. More and more women researchers at ETH are being honoured with important prizes. This shows that an increasing number of women are setting scientific milestones and shaping research areas.
Measures for equality for all women at ETH Zurich
ETH is committed to minimising so-called ‘unconscious biases’ at all levels and to bringing about a conscious approach to bias.
Various events organised by ETH Diversity (e.g. Anti-Bias Lunchbreak) are intended to help raise awareness among all ETH members of the importance of unconscious bias in the areas of teaching, research and innovation and to develop strategies for dealing with bias. The e-learning programme ‘Unconscious Bias’ also offers an in-depth examination of the topic.
ETH Zurich sees itself as a university and employer that enables its members to achieve an appropriate balance between studying and working on the one hand and caring responsibilities on the other. In addition to comprehensive childcare services for every situation, flexible working conditions, breastfeeding and nappy-changing facilities on site, there are various (information) events every semester for parents-to-be, employees/students caring for relatives and interested parties. You can find all information and events on work-life balance on our website.
ETH Zurich has a Code of Conduct, which serves as a guideline for how ETH employees treat each other and what values the university stands for. Violations of the Code of Conduct can have consequences under personnel law or disciplinary action.
ETH has a wide range of different contact points for cases of disrespectful behaviour. If you are unsure which contact point to turn to with your concerns, the Respect Office will be happy to answer your questions.
The Respect Programme, which was launched in 2024, offers a constant stream of current offers and events on the topic of respect - for everyone who studies, researches and works at ETH Zurich.
ETH Zurich is also committed to equal pay for employees. In 2022, ETH Zurich, like the other institutions in the ETH Domain, had equal pay formally reviewed using the EQUAL-SALARY method - and passed. More information can be found in the Intern Aktuell article from 16.03.2022.
ETH Zurich introduced the Gender Action Plan (GAP) in February 2014. This comprises concrete instruments and responsibilities with regard to career development, integration of gender-specific aspects in research, promotion of compatibility, combating sexual harassment and discrimination.
The implementation of the GAP in the departments is evaluated every two years. It can be seen that many departments have now implemented numerous conventional and innovative measures (e.g. family rooms, assistants for postdocs who are young parents, childcare at evening events, gender equality positions in departmental management).
ETH Zurich has had an Equal Opportunities Office since 1992. Since 2021, it has been assigned to the Vice President's Office for Human Resources Development and Leadership, which is headed by Julia Dannath, and has expanded its portfolio to include other diversity dimensions/topics as part of the name change to ‘ETH Diversity’. ETH Diversity prepares the annual Equality Monitoring and organises a variety of events each semester that address many different topics, such as unconcious bias, inclusive language, the advancement of women and anti-racism. ETH Diversity also advises departments and various units at ETH Zurich on how equal opportunities and inclusion can best be implemented in teaching, research and innovation. It is involved in the development of guidelines, strategies and recommendations for action and also implements many different projects with other ETH units/groups.
Every year there are various contributions or events to mark International Women's Day (8 March) and the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Our current, changing events (e.g. on the promotion of women) can be found on our events website.
Promotion of (prospective) women scientists
Offers at ETH
Are you interested in studying at ETH? Are you thinking of becoming an engineer, biologist or physicist? Here you can find trial programmes at ETH Zurich.
ETH Information Days
The ETH study information days usually take place in September. On this occasion, prospective students are provided with information regarding study requirements and occupational profiles at different departements and they have the opportunity to ask their questions to students, young scientists and professors.
ETH Study Weeks
Every June, different ETH departments organize study trial-weeks (German only) for interested highschool students (16-20 years). Interested students have the opportunity to carry out their own project together with ETH researchers and get to know studying and life at ETH at first hand.
Computer Science Trial Studies
The Network of Women in Computer Science (CSNOW) at the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich offers a trial study for interested high school students, where young scientists teach programming.
LIMES-day for female students
Since 2013, the LIMES, the ETH female association "Ladies in Mechanical and Electronical Studies", are conducting an information day for young women* between 16 and 19 years in January.
National Future Day
On the National Future day at ETH Zurich, committed colleagues present their occupation and non-stereotypical role models. Children from 5th to 7th school year are warmly invited to imagine themselves in careers of possibly unfamiliar professions outside of their gender roles in society.
ETH Treffpunkt Science City
Treffpunkt Science City regularly offers public events on specific topics. These events also include specific programmes and workshops for children and teenagers.
mint & pepper
On their platform external page mint & pepper the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering of ETH Zurich offers different activities for children and teachers addressing robotics and programming.
Counselling
The Department Student Services offers a wide range of information on courses of study at ETH and possibilities for personal counselling.
Offers outside ETH (no claim to completeness)
GirlsCodeToo
external page GirlsCodeToo is a Swiss-based non-profit organisation encouraging girls* to explore technology and discover innovation from a new angle.
KIDSinfo
The external page KIDSinfo project launched by the Schweizerischen Vereinigung der Ingenieurinnen SVIN introduces primary school students to the fascination of technology, conveys a positive engineer image to children at an early school age, and aims to sensitize children to the fact that technical professions are open to both genders.
Roberta-Project with Small Robots
The external page Roberta-Initiative by the Fraunhofer Institute in cooperation with ZHAW provides robotic-courses for students of all genders in Winterthur (German only).
Kids Lab
Events and courses about Computer and Natural Sciences for school kids and teachers as well as consulting and training for teachers (in German only) at external page kids lab.
KALEIO - The magazine for girls (only in German)
external page KALEIO - The magazine for girls (and the rest of the world) wants to accompany, support, strengthen and network girls in and from Switzerland. The credo: reports, games and strong role models from the world of science instead of make-up tips, advertising and role clichés.
Are you already studying at ETH and are you interested in special offers for female students and scientists?
Guidance and Networks
Study Counselling
All activities and services for prospective and current students relating to the interface between Swiss secondary schools and ETH are summarised in the Student Services department. The Forum for the Promotion of Young Talent also offers a wide range of counselling services at ETH Zurich for studies and academic careers.
Career Center: career events
The Career Center offers students/doctoral students and post-docs who wish to continue their career outside the academy extensive counselling services and networking events with exciting companies.An overview of the offer for students can be found here.
Networks
Under networks (see in the tab below) you will find career portals, job markets and other useful platforms.
Are you doing a doctorate at ETH or have you already completed your doctorate? Here you will find information on your further academic career.
Career Center: Career-Events
The external page ETH Career Center's event calendar offers an overview of all events taking place at ETH on the topics of career start and career. Furthermore, information on different events organized by associated companies is published here.
Career Program for Women Scientists: FLP program - Foster. Lead. Promote. (formerly known as Fix the Leaky Pipeline program)
The external page FLP program – Foster. Lead. Promote. offers young female scientists within the ETH Domain the opportunity to reflect on their professional situations, to develop a strategy for embarking on or continuing their career paths, to receive targeted further training, and to extend their personal and scientific networks. The core elements of the program are coaching groups, courses on career relevant topics, networking events, and mentoring (one-to-one and peer).
Career Programme for Women Scientists: Career building programme CONNECT – Connecting women’s career in academia and industry
external page CONNECT encourages women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to plan and develop their career. It aims to inspire all involved people to bridge the gap between academia, industry and public sector. It is targeted at female PhD students and postdocs in the ETH Domain and University of Zurich.
Watch testimonials of role models in industry external page here.
Career Program for Life Sciences: feminno
feminno offers mentoring and career development for women scientists interested in innovation. Experienced career advisers, coaches, innovation experts and executives from successful enterprises share their work experience and will inspire the participants to pro-actively mature your ideas and your personal development. In addition, participants will receive advice and access to funding opportunities to start their own innovation project.
NCCR Exchange Programmes for PhDs and Postdocs
NCCR Robotics offers external page financial assistance to PhD students and Postdocs from both inside and outside our organisation to take part in a 3-6 month collaborative project in a field related to the NCCR. Up to three scholarships of a maximum of 9,000 CHF will be awarded to cover living and travel costs.
For Partners: International Dual Career Network
ETH Zurich is a member of the external page International Dual Career Network (IDCN). The IDCN is a network of multinationals, educational institutions and NGOs and its purpose is to enable the job market integration of partners of international employees. Learn more about the IDCN in this short external page film.
Guidelines by "Mentoring Deutschschweiz" about Scientific Careers (German Only)
The programme, "Mentoring Deutschschweiz" has published two guidelines on academic careers:
Download Erfolgreich Promovieren (PDF, 959 KB) - Guideline for doctoral students (German only)
Download Promotion und dann (PDF, 928 KB) - Guideline for advanced doctoral students and post-doctoral resarchers (German only)
Are you doing a doctorate at ETH or have you already completed your doctorate? Here you will find information on contact points for counselling and networks.
Counselling
Human Resources
The Human Resources Department of ETH Zurich offers Consulting and Coaching for all employees of ETH Zurich. In cooperation with employees, individual solutions for each problem are developed.
Career Center
The Career Center is engaged with helping companies to be present at ETH Zurich and contact appropriate suitable young talents.
AVETH Survival Guide
AVETH has compiled a guide with lots of helpful information on all aspects of life for doctoral students and postdocs at ETH Zurich. Here you will also find a list of all contact points in the event of conflicts or discrimination at ETH Zurich.
Reconciliation
In addition to extensive childcare options for every situation, flexible working conditions, breastfeeding and nappy-changing facilities and family rooms on site, there are various (information) events every semester for parents-to-be, employees/students who care for relatives and interested parties. Find all information and events on reconciliation on our website.
Networks
Find different (women) associations, networks and databanks.
Announcements
At ETH Zurich, vacant professorships are advertised by the Professorships Department. The following professorships are currently vacant.
Appointment procedure for professorships
Are you interested in an academic career, but do not know how the appointment procedure for professorships is conducted and what is expected of candidates? The Professorships staff of ETH Zurich and ETH Diversity provides detailed information on the procedure and is the point of contact for further questions.
Appointment committee: rules for awarding professorships
At least two female professors must be represented on every appointment committee for professorships. Whenever possible, this proportion should be increased so that up to 50 per cent of the members are women.
In principle, at least two female candidates should be invited to interviews. Exceptions must be justified to the ETH President.
The committee's final recommendation - usually a list of three - must include at least one female candidate. If this is not the case, a justification must be submitted to the ETH President.
The role of a ‘Gender and Diversity Advocate’ has also been newly introduced, which is assumed by a voting member of the committee. This person supports the Commission in conducting a fair, unbiased and open appointment process. This includes, for example, ensuring that the application pool has a balanced gender ratio or encouraging the committee to actively approach female candidates more intensively.
Professorship pool 2021-2024
In 2021, the Executive Board decided on various measures to promote female professors, including the creation of a pool of ten additional professorships. The new pool is to be utilised by 2024 if opportunities arise beyond the existing professorship planning to recruit top female researchers as professors. All associated measures are set out in writing.
Dual Career Advice
The Dual Career Advice Office supports foreign partners of professors in their integration into the Swiss labour market and is designed as a start-up aid. The Dual Career Advice Office is available exclusively to ETH Zurich professor families.
Assistant professorships as a funding instrument
Assistant professorships at ETH serve to promote young professors. They are independent teaching and research units which, like associate and full professorships, have research and teaching freedom as well as their own resources. They have a reduced teaching load and are largely free of administrative obligations. See the guidelines by the ETH-president (German only).
Women Professors Forum
The members of the ETH Women Professors Forum act as role models to familiarise young women with the attractiveness of training as a scientist or engineer. They exchange knowledge and experience with each other. They also provide their expertise on inclusive corporate cultures within and outside ETH Zurich.
High Potential University Leaders Identity & Skills Training Programme (H.I.T.)
Aimed at female professors from various Swiss universities with high leadership potential, the external page H.I.T. programme is designed to prepare them for academic leadership positions and to help them build gender equality and diversity competencies.
Counselling
Counselling at professorship level is offered by the Professorships staff.
ETH-Survey "Status of Women Faculty"
More info about the ETH-survey investigating the status of women professors at ETH Zurich..
Female associations and diversity groups at ETH Zurich
In some departments, students, doctoral students and postdocs have come together in so-called ‘Female Associations’ or diversity groups. These associations/groups organise lectures, networking events, career events, peer mentoring and much more. Most female associations/diversity groups are financially supported by their departments and also work together with ETH Diversity. You can find an overview on our website, detailed information on the relevant activities can be found on the respective websites.
Overview of the counselling and promotional instruments for an academic career at ETH Zurich.
The ETH Grants Office offers advice regarding ETH-internal research funding and further third party funds (EU, SNF, KTI, SUK).
An overview of scholarships world-wide can be found external page here.
The Rector's staff or the team of the Financial Aid Office informs students with questions about need- or merit-based scholarships.
external page Research Professional is an online search platform for calls for research funding. The database contains an extensive list of national, European and international funding agencies, companies and institutions that advertise research grants and research awards or offer other funding instruments.
The ETH Zurich Library's platform "Explora" provides an exciting overview of the history of ETH Zurich and the long road to equality and equal rights for men and women in academic institutions in Switzerland. Learn more here.
1855 When ETH opened its doors women were explicitly entitled to study.
1871 The first female student, Nadezda Smeckaja from Russia, begins her studies in mechanical engineering.
1877 The first female graduate, Marie Kowalik from Russia, finishes her studies in agronomy and forestry.
1879 The first female pharmacologist, Concordia Isotomine from Russia, finishes her studies.
1895 The first female Swiss student, Maja Knecht, graduates in natural sciences.
1909 The first woman, Hedwig Delpy from Germany, acquires a doctor’s degree from ETH. She is the sixth doctoral candidate since ETH was entitled to confer the doctorate in 1908.
1910 The first woman to qualify as a senior lecturer is the geologist Laura Herzner from Germany.
1919 The first woman to qualify as a civil engineer is Elsa Diamant from Hungary.
1923 The first woman to graduate as an architect is Flora Steiger-Crawford from Scotland.
1976 The association of students at ETH elects its first female president, Barbara Haering, the later member of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland.
1979 The first woman to acquire the title of a honorary professor is the geobotanist Krystina Urbanska.
1985 The first woman to acquire a full professorship is the architect Flora Ruchat-Roncati.
1987 The VESADA association is founded by committed female students, assistants, lecturers and graduates from ETH. It fosters networking under women scientists and demands increased efforts for the advancement of women at ETH.
1991 A staff unit for women affairs is founded to coordinate and implement the suggestions for improvement concerning the advancement of women.
1992 The first woman to receive the title of a honorary doctor from ETH is the American environmental activist Donella H. Meadows.
1993 ETH’s Office for Equal Opportunity is founded.
1997 ETH already counts eight full, three associate and eight assistant women professors. Besides five women researchers are entitled a professor.
2007 The first woman to be elected as rector of ETH is Heidi Wunderli-Allenspach, professor for biopharmacology. As such she is member of the Executive Board and responsible for education at the ETH.
2019 The Office for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men becomes the Office for Equal Opportunities and Diversity.
2021 By the strategical expansion of the diversity topics in 2021, it was renamed to ETH Diversity.
Sources:
Eidgenössische Kommission für Frauenfragen (Hg.): Frauen- und gleichstellungspolitische Ereignisse in der Schweiz 1848-1998, Bern 1999.
Stelle für Chancengleichheit von Mann und Frau an der ETH Zürich (Hg.): Wege in die Wissenschaft. Professorinnen an der ETH: 16 Portraits, Zürich 1997.
Women at Universities: The Beginnings
When ETH Zurich was founded in 1855, it became the second European university to admit women to its study programs. Since, at that time, there were no upper secondary schools for girls in Switzerland, those to benefit from the progressive registration terms at ETH were mostly women from abroad.
The first female student at ETH Zurich was Nadezda Smeckaja from Russia, who, in 1871, registered for the Mechanical Engineering study program. A compatriot of hers, Marie Kowalik, was the first woman to graduate from ETH, having studied Agronomy and Forestry. However, female ETH students remained the exception for many more years. Only in Pharmacology and Teaching study programs, was the number of women not as low as in other study fields.
First Female Scientists
In Switzerland, it was very difficult for a woman to become a researcher. When, in 1897, Marie Baum started working as the first female scientific research assistant, there was major resistance against her employment, which was first limited to one year only. Hedwig Delpy and Laura Hezner were the first women to obtain a doctoral degree and a postdoctoral lecture qualification in 1909 and 1910, respectively. However, they did not continue their research at ETH. Marianne Plehns, an ETH graduate in Agronomy, was one of the first women to be appointed for a professorship in Germany.
For female scientists, the chance of finding adequate employment was limited, since only very few professors, e.g. geologist Heim or biologist Schröder, remained unimpressed by public criticism. Heim was the husband of the first female medical doctor in Switzerland, Marie Heim-Vögtlin. As the first female Swiss student at the University of Zurich, Marie Heim caused a countrywide controversy in Switzerland. Today, the promotion program for women of the Swiss National Science Foundation is named after her.
From the Struggle for Working Rights for Women to the First Female Professor
The majority of female students from abroad returned to their home countries with the outbreak of World War I, causing the proportion of women among students to drop drastically. Between the two world wars, the right for women to work became one of the main goals of the different women's organizations in Switzerland. In 1928, the Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work was organized in Bern. The artistic director of the exhibition was Lux Guyer, one of Switzerland's first female architects, who had completed part of her studies at ETH Zurich.
Thanks to the liberalization of society and the sustained economic growth after World War II, the number of female students at universities rose continuously. The growth in the proportion of women at ETH was significantly lower than at other universities, which was attributable to its technical focus. An exception were Pharmacology and Biology, which arose considerable interest in female Matura graduates. Consequentially, it was a biologist, who, in 1979, was appointed ETH's first female honorary professor: geobotanist Krystina Urbanska. However, it was only in 1985, when ETH Zurich got its first ordinary female professor, with the appointment of architect Flora Ruchat-Roncati.
The list only contains tenured professors, but no assistant professors. All inaugurations until 2000 are registered. Names are listed in alphabetical order (by family name) if several women were appointed professor in the same year.
Sources:
- «Wege in die Wissenschaft. Professorinnen an der ETH Zürich.» ETH Zurich, September 1997
- Internet and ETH for complementary information
Meaning:
- "em." : retirement, becoming Professor emerita
Female students and female scientists at ETH Zurich began to stand up for their interests quite at the same time. Women started criticizing that the promotion and working structures in research were tailored specifically for men and asked for more women to be appointed to professorships, for specific measures to promote young female scientists, and for the creation of daycare places for children.
In 1993, all these efforts resulted in the foundation of ETH's Office of Equal Opportunities. Geologist Katharina von Salis played an important role in the whole process. She first had a consultative function within Equal!. Later on, she became a co-initiator and the first president of the Swiss Federal Equal Opportunities program. In this position, her achievements for women at Swiss universities were remarkable. ETH president Jakob Nüesch was also very committed to the cause. When he resigned in 1997, there were twelve ordinary and extraordinary female professors as well as five honorary and eight assistant professors working at ETH Zurich.
During the last years, the proportion of women amond students and doctoral students amounted to around 30%. However, on the level professor, 18% women are present. Current numbers an be found in the yearly Equality Monitoring. ETH wants to further increase the proporiton of women among students and researchers and is investing into promotional measures on all levels. Further information can be found in the Gender Action Plan.
At ETH Zurich, the first so-called ‘Female Association’ was founded in 1993 at the Department of Computer Science. A female association is an association of mainly women students and doctoral students from one or two neighbouring departments, with the aim of making the women of these departments and their interests and needs visible.
The first Female Association, today known as CSNOW (Network of Women in Computer Science), was founded in 1993 under the name «Frauenförderung» and was followed by other female associations in other departments almost two decades later, most notably the LIMES group (Ladies in Mechanical and Electrical Studies) in 2012. Interestingly enough, women are particularly involved in such associations in departments with a low proportion of women at student and at doctoral level. With their commitment to female associations, women are active role models in two ways. Firstly, they show that it is possible to successfully engage oneself in bringing one’s own interests to bear in a large institution such as ETH Zurich. Secondly, female associations make it possible for female students and doctoral candidates to be more visible in the departments concerned, where male dominance often prevails at all levels in terms of numbers.
Nowadays, 10 of the 16 departments of ETH Zurich have female associations, which are generally financially supported by the respective departments. In addition to CSNOW, LIMES (Departments of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering) has been active since 2012. The departments D-MAVT and D-ITET also have a very low proportion of female students and female doctoral candidates (D-MAVT: 10.5% or 15.6%, D-ITET: 17.7% or 18%). Further female associations are the «Society for Women in Natural Sciences» (WINS) at D-CHAB (founded in 2014) or «Phimale» at D-MATH and D-PHYS (founded in 2016). The «Parity Group» has been active at D-ARCH since 2014. «EqualiTea» was founded at D-EAPS in 2017 and the «Society for Women in Social Studies and Humanities» (SWiSH) at D-GESS in early 2018. Since 2014, D-BAUG has had the «Bauingenieurinnen FORUM» for female graduates and since 2017, they have had the «Netzwerk der Wasseringenieurinnen» (NeWI); the «Gender and Diversity Group» for students and doctoral students of the department was also founded in 2017.
Female Associations are run by their members (mainly women, but occasionally also men) on their own initiative. The associations organise information days and taster days for schoolgirls and especially for female school leavers, organise lectures and discussions, make company visits possible, set up mentoring programmes, conduct surveys and studies, contribute to university policy decisions and – last but not least – see themselves as social networks within the ETH, where women support and strengthen each other. Since 2015, the Equal Office of the ETH has been working closely with these female associations, maintaining a regular exchange of information and occasionally supporting events in the relevant departments.
The external page Women Professors Forum (WPF), founded in 2012, contributes to improving the visibility of female professors at ETH Zurich. Over 80% of female professors at ETH Zurich are members of this association. They create a broad platform to connect female researchers from various disciplines and to strengthen the female role model in science.