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Brussels, 14 Dec 2004

Austria's Science Minister Elisabeth Gehrer presented grants to 11 women scientists under the Hertha-Firnberg scheme on 9 December, declaring that: 'We must support women so that they gain the positions to which they are entitled in an increasingly male-dominated science system.'

The programme was launched in 1998 and is aimed women in all scientific disciplines who have completed doctoral studies. Some 59 women scientists have received support under the scheme since its launch, with 32 of them having now completed their projects. The programme's budget for 2004 amounts to 1.3 million euro.

In Austria, women make up 55 per cent of all students, and around 40 per cent of doctorates.

This year's selected projects range from the effects of increased carbon dioxide on plants, herbivores and their parasites to comparisons of prohibitions on marriage between relations in different regions, and the analysis of misogynistic texts in the Old Testament.

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