WiS Group

Who We Are

  • Female graduate/undergraduate students, postdocs, PIs, senior scientists, administrators, engineers, etc...
  • Coworkers at QNS

Goals of WiS

  • Advance gender equality in science, especially in physics through research
  • Provide women-represented environment without a gender barrier
  • Create a network among female students, researchers, and professors
  • Encourage and support students and researchers for their career development
  • Share information and knowledge on world-wide efforts to advance gender equality and related projects/events

Statistics in South Korea

  • 7th-highest disparity between men’s and women’s rates of economic participation, and the highest gender wage gap among 38 members of OECD (2023)
  • 105th out of 146 countries for gender imbalance (the Global Gender Gap Report, 2023)
  • The lowest fertility rate (0.78) in the world since 2013 (2023)

Activities

We organize an event every other month, usually held by three group members. These events help us to reach our goals via different event types:

  • Career development trainings - workshop and/or career coffee with established female scientists
  • Network building by exchanging experiences within WiS Grouo - creative workshops, outings/picnics, etc...
  • Growing self-confidence - organizing events where everyone is given responsibilities
  • Interviews within WiS - asking common questions and answers to help understand each other
  • Regular lunch meetings - Enjoying lunch together and discuss both scientific wonders or just sharing our everyday experiences

QNS enjoys a good gender mix among all of our teams (Female 55%, Male 45%), especially the research team – where it is exceptional. All students receiving a degree from Ewha are female. We have the responsibility to grow the skills and abilities of all our scientists and to support the start of their careers, no matter where they choose to make their next step.
Additional ways we encourage gender diversity at QNS:
Parental leaves
  • Director states his openness to parental leaves regularly and personally
  • In 5 years: 6 parental leaves with an average duration of 10.8 months
  • We have welcomed 8 QNS babies since 2017, which is far above the national fertility rate
Role models
Career Coffees are held when senior female scientists come to visit QNS. Questions from the students have included:
  • Career development
  • The possibility of having a family or work-life balance
  • Establishing themselves in a male-dominated field

Events