Money matters: Grad student Martina Knirsch says the fellowship has helped her find quality time both at work and at home.

Ute Queitsch worried she might have to cut back her research on nanotechnology. Queitsch, a PhD student at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden, was juggling work on the rigorous project, caring for her five-year-old daughter and staying on top of household chores—and it was proving too much for her.

But in July 2005, Queitsch won a new fellowship on offer to women scientists with children. “The scholarship gave me the courage to follow my passion and have a family,” she says. She was able to continue with her work and is preparing two papers for publication.

Queitsch is among the first to benefit from the fellowship. Launched in December 2004, the program aims to lessen the burden of domestic chores and child care, responsibilities that fall to female scientists at home, according to a 2002 European Commission report.

The scholarship gave me the courage to follow my passion and have a family. Ute Queitsch

Female students are given a monthly stipend of €400 that can be applied toward cooking and cleaning costs or additional childcare during evenings or conferences. The fellowships have benefited eight graduate students thus far and may extend to postdoctoral fellows by the end of this year.

The gender gap in the highest echelons of science can be at least partly explained by the struggle women scientists experience trying to balance a demanding career and family, says Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, whose foundation awarded Queitsch's scholarship.

She should know. A Nobel Laureate in 1995 and director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Nüsslein-Volhard has few equals in Germany, where women occupy only five percent of the top positions at universities.

Inspired by one of her graduate students who considered dropping out of science to care for her child, Nüsslein-Volhard decided to help others in a similar position. The Max Planck Society and private donations fund the fellowships, which are renewable for three years.

The tendency for women to drop out of science after starting a family is not unique to Germany (Nat. Med. 10, 114–115; 2004). More than half of graduate students in the life sciences in Europe are women, but less than 12% make it to the top, according to a comprehensive European report, She Figures 2006. Both institutional and cultural barriers, such as the proverbial glass ceiling and family responsibilities, are thought to contribute to the steep fall in numbers.

By funding graduate students, who have lower salaries than postdocs, the foundation hopes to keep talented scientists on their career path, says Nüsslein-Volhard. “The money really helps.”

Childcare is particularly expensive and difficult to find in Germany. “Almost my entire salary goes for the day care of our three children,” says biologist Martina Knirsch, one of the recipients. Knirsch says the scholarship has helped her hire a cleaning woman and cover partial childcare costs, allowing her more quality time at home and at work.

“Since I am able to delegate jobs like cleaning our rooms, I have more time for my work and also for my children in the evening,” Knirsch says. Knirsch, who will complete her PhD this fall, plans to apply for the postdoc fellowships when they become available.