Karimat ElSayed
Physics Department, Faculty of Science ,
Ain-shams University
elkarimat@yahoo.com
 Introduction
 percentage of
physics female students enrolled in
Universities.
 Gender distribution of physics staff members in
different universities
 Women in Physics in the Arab Worlds.
 Needs suggested by undergraduate female physics
students
 The impact of The Regional Conference on women in
physics (Africa & MiddleEast2007 held in Egypt )
 Until the end of the
19th Century Science was not
classified into Different disciplines.
 The first woman named in the history of science
was Merit Ptah (2700 Bc.) in Egypt's Valley of the
Kings.
 She held the title "chief physician," making her the first
known female physician and the first woman named in the
history of science.
In the new Egypt the first governmental girl’s
school started in Cairo in 1873
 Before 1873 rich girls used to have private
teaching at home, or to go to Missionary girls
Schools or to be sent to have their education in
France or England.
 The first University in Egypt Started in 1908.
(only 7 girls) attended the University at that
time , mainly studying the humanitarian
subjects.

 The first woman in physics was Samira Mousa
who was graduated in 1940 and had her PhD
degree from the USA in Nuclear physics, but she
died in Car accident in 1951 in USA
 Now a day the number of women in Physics are
increasing and they are practicing all field of
physics
 some of them have highly managerial post some
have been decorated with various orders of merit
for their scientific achievements
 In 1995
The percentage of the students (boys and
Girls) who finished the secondary Schools in the
science section were 30% and 30% out of this
numbers were girls. After 2002 a decline in the
number of students in Science section Were
taking place
 The total number of Physics graduates (males&
females) are decreasing by time, but on the other
hands the ratios of female relative to male students
are increasing
7.78%
81.80%
6.63%
1.33%
2.46%
Medical
Engineering
Agriculture
Basic Science
Humanitarian
Male 2002
Female 2002
Male 2008
Female 2008
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Prof
Assit Prof
Lecturerer
Assist Lect
Demonstrator
Enrollment
in 2004/2005
140
F
M
P: Physics(single major)
P+:(double major)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
6
7
P
8
P+
9
10
P
11
P+
12
13
P
14
P+
A
ss
yo
t
5
P+
M
an
so
ur
a
4
P
H
el
w
an
3
C
ai
ro
2
P+
A
S
U
1
P
Double major programs exhibit an obvious
increase in students enrollment especially females.
 The
number of female students enrolled in Science
and Technology field, usually have demand for
disciplines like medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.
 In basic science the demand is for life science and
chemistry
 Pricilla Laws of Dickinson College Pointed out in
her article(4) in 1993that (About 23%of the physics
department of Aim-Shams University including the
chair person Karimat El-Sayed were women.)
 She pointed out also that Bob Erlich from George
Mason University wrote that; he didn’t know of
any American University Physics Department with
this high percentage of women. (4 )
 We have in Egypt a faculty only for girls affiliated to
Ain-Shams University.
 It has a science section which include only physics,
chemistry, biology and mathematics
 It was established in 1950 in response to the
demand of the community, that the girls get their
education without mixing with boys.
 The dean of this faculty is always a female
and she is at present a Biologist




Few women physicists reached to highly
professional, managerial and decision making
positions in Universities and Institutions Some
are also active in nongovernmental organizations.
Some married women who encounter great
difficulties in balancing scientific activities with
family duties prefer to leave their careers totally
The number of Egyptian women and men
Physicists are decreasing due to the lack of jobs.
There is indirect discrimination considering the
higher rank positions such as the head of the
Universities.




Girls believe that physics, mathematics and technology
are tough and therefore are usually male subjects..
A misconception that males usually prefer spouses of
non scientific background
Stable marriage come as a priority over a career in our
society.
The role model that are presented in the physics books
in the secondary school are not encouraging ( they are
unmarried, with thick glasses and of grim faces).
More advanced experiments to support their course
 Their rightful need for creating suitable jobs for
physics graduates
 Obtain more opportunities in the “exchange of
students” programs with other advanced countries.
 More exposure to research activities related to
advanced technology

 The Egyptians played good
roles in teaching
Schools children and also University students of
both sex in most of the Arab countries: Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Kuwait, Yemen, the Golf states,
Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Jordon
 Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, our help to them
started after the independence of these countries
in the fifties and sixties of the twenties Century.
 All the Arab Worlds now have good Universities
, Some of them have mixed Education( the
countries located in the west of Egypt and
others have none mixed education( the Golf
states, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
 In Saudi Arabia
the first Girls School started
in 1964
 Before this years rich girls get private
education at home and some get it at Schools
in Egypt
 The first college for Girls (a section of King
Abdul-Aziz University where education is not
mixed) started in 1975. I my self established
the four years of the Physics Department of
this girl section
 Now a day there are about 10 PhD Saudi
women working in the Physics department in
this girls college
 In
Saudi Arabia there are some other colleges of
girls belonging to the Ministry of education ( the
girls Section). The graduates of these colleges
work as teachers
 The first girls School in Yemen started in 1973.
 Yemen Has now two PhD women in Physics.
They got their PhD degree from Cairo University.
 There is a university in Lebanon affiliated to
Alexandria university and other in Sudan
affiliated to Cairo University , most of the
lecturers are Egyptian
 I had to overcome
institutional, academic, and
technical challenges.
 I was born in village situated in the north of
Delta
 Our mother believed that girls are only brought
to be good wives and good mothers
 With the help of my father together with my full
determination, I was able to be a student at the
higher School.
 At high school I was overwhelmed by the
glorious biography of Marie Curie, the scientist,
the wife and the mother.
 I Graduated with honor degree in physics and I
had to choose between marriage and career, at
that time, marriage means the end of any woman
career.
 I was able to get My PhD
degree from London
University under the Supervision of Another
Distinguished lady (Kathleen Lonsdale) She told
me from her experience that a woman who is a
good scientist is also a good mother
 When I got My PhD I was appointed a lecturers
at the Physics Department, Ain-Shams
University
 I was the first Physics staff members (men and
women) who is specialized in my subject and I
found ( no equipments, no books, no one to help
me and nothing at all to start with.
 I had to struggle for all of these difficulties alone.
 Now I have a good
and well equipped lab
which is now helping other researchers and
industries to solve their problems
 I am always organizing Workshops, Schools,
and conferences, Inviting very eminent
professors from over all the World to teach the
most new subjects in Physics.
 I tried very hard to convince the parents of the
young girls to attend the Conferences and
workshops
TOPICS
 Women physicists and continuous education.
 The needs of women physicists to overcome their
difficulties (education and research)
 Women physicists and society challenges.
 Teaching physics for girls
 Quality control and assurance in physics education.
 The role of the developed countries towards women
physicists in developing countries.
 Personal experience in balancing family and career.

several recommendations were directed towards the
promotion & advancement of women in Africa & the
Middle East
 improving the public image & awareness of the
importance of women in physics.
References
 1-Central Agency for Public Mobilization & Statistics
(CAPMAS) 2007
 2-Women in Physics conferences Proceedings in Paris
2002 & in Brazil 2005
 3- Ain-Shams University, Cairo University, Assuit
University & Alexandria University Statistics 2007
 4-Parcilla Laws, From Her Article(Physics and Spices In
(Cairo) 1993.during her Participation in the Fourth Arab
conference on physics teaching, Organized by the Physics
Department of Ain Shams Universities
