Scientific career

At the University of Vienna, more men than women pursue academic careers. The proportion of women in habilitations has fluctuated over the years, but has generally been well below 50%, while tenure track appointments in recent years have been for the most part gender-balanced. With women accounting for 71% of appointments, 2025 saw an upward outlier. In appointment and tenure track procedures, female scientists often have a higher chance of obtaining a professorship than their male competitors, i.e., the proportion of female applicants is lower than the proportion of appointments of women. On the one hand, this is because the highest number of applications is received in subjects with a high proportion of men. On the other hand, studies indicate that women tend to be more selective than men when applying for positions.