Career paths

The so-called “Karrierescheren” illustrate the contrasting development of female and male proportions in academic careers.

The University of Vienna as a whole shows several parallel developments in 2026. Gender ratios at the outer poles remain mirror-inverted, but the gap in professorships has visibly narrowed over the years. Between pre- and postdocs, the proportion of women has fallen by ten percentage points, which is more than in previous years. There are opposing developments among senior scientists and tenure track positions: while the proportion of women among the former has fallen slightly in recent years, it has risen steadily among tenure track positions, where there is currently stable gender parity.

There are different patterns at the faculty cluster level. In the humanities and cultural studies, women clearly dominate at the undergraduate level, while the gender ratio is largely balanced at the doctoral level and above. In law, economics, and social sciences, men only outnumber women at the professorial level; at the postdoctoral level, gender parity prevails. In the formal and natural sciences, more men than women obtain an MA degree, and the proportion of women declines continuously up to the professorship level, interrupted only by tenure track positions. The leaky pipeline is most pronounced in the life and biological sciences. Around seven out of ten MA degrees go to women, and the doctoral rate is also high. The gender ratio is reversed at the professorial level: only just under a third of professorships will be held by women in 2026.

Note: The professors include all professorships according to § 98 and § 99 of the Austrian University Act (UG). Associate professorships according to § 99/6 UG (tenure track after fulfillment of the qualification agreement) belong to the professorships in terms of organizational law and are therefore assigned to the professorships. Tenure track positions include assistant professors and associate professors who fulfilled their qualification agreement before the 2016 amendment to the University Act.

The academic positions shown are those that currently mark possible paths for an academic career. They do not necessarily lead to a professorship.