Women Power

In its weekend edition, the Badische Zeitung published an article: Women catch up, slowly. The title is undoubtedly misleading when the female author proudly compares the number of female students with the number of male students in Freiburg and its sister (sic!) cities, with the result that the former dominate. 

 With percentages ranging from 52.2% in Madison to a record 60.2% in Iran's (!) Isfahan, female students are the majority. With 52.5% female students, Freiburg is slightly "better" than Madison. Red Baron, attending physics lectures, was never distracted by long-haired fellow students sitting in front of him. Those days are long gone.

A determined female student is entering Freiburg's Alma Pater (?) through the main entrance.
The photoshopped picture shows Homer's statue with red-varnished fingernails.
(©Badische Zeitung).

Concerning master's degrees, the figures are 51.1% compared with 51.6%. Here, Madison's female students are ahead of Freiburg's students as well as in the percentages of doctorates, with 45.4% to 50.6%. Regarding the number of professors, Freiburg is a "developing" university. It carries the red lantern among all sister city universities, with only 17% female professors compared with 25.9% in Madison.

Why? Red Baron's experience with female bosses is only positive. While working on my thesis, I was at an institute headed by a male professor who was barely visible. Instead, the institute financed by federal money was "governed" by a lady the Ministry of Science had sent. She gave us youngsters all the attention we needed as we entered the world of science, and I am still grateful for her encouragement and support.

Freiburg needs a female university rector, whereas the University of Madison already has its third female Chancellor.

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