Just over 100 years ago, on 7 and 22 April 1919, Otto Glöckel, Undersecretary of State in the Republic of German-Austria’s Ministry of Education, issued a decree allowing women unrestricted access to study at the technical universities in Vienna and Graz, the University of Natural Resources in Vienna, and the University of Mining in Leoben, provided that “there is room for the female applicant within the existing premises and scientific facilities offered by each university without causing any impairment or interference to the male students”.
In 2019, the Technology and Society Forum at TU Graz held a commemorative event to mark this centenary: titled “The female engineers we need in Europe”, it was an occasion to consider the situation of women in education, and women in technology, in the past, present, and foreseeable future.
This book presents the texts of lectures given at the event on the history of women’s access to education and the role of women in today’s working world, scientific contributions on women in technology, and the history of female students at TU Graz. It also includes reports from four generations of female graduates, details of current measures to advance women at the university, as well as several welcoming addresses and plenty of facts and figures.