The increasing number of women with postgraduate qualifications in physics in Ecuador

Although the social reality in Ecuador is similar to that in most Latin American countries, support for research in fundamental and applied sciences has gained in importance in the last few years. An Ecuadorian team participated for the first time in the IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics in 2005, when no woman in the country had yet earned a postgraduate degree. By the 2011 ICWIP Conference, the number of women with PhD degrees had increased five times, whereas the trend for men remained the same. This paper gives an overview on how the Ecuadorian research community has started to work together on a national initiative to improve the human and infrastructure capacity to develop science and technology, with support from the government and the science-related ministries.