  The absence of women among academic staff in physics is in the focus of our
research. To explore the causes of this gender imbalance, we conducted a
nationwide representative survey among Ph.D. students and interviews with Ph.D.
students and postdoctoral fellows. Studying both context factors and agency, we
reveal the multiple and hidden ways in which gender operates as a power
structure, putting up barriers to women's academic careers. This latent power
structure influences women's decision-making and experiences in several ways.
In the academic field, it produces unequal competition in a male dominated
playground. In the social sphere, choosing a demanding academic career is seen
as disrupting gender order. Within the family, women carry a greater burden of
family work and give precedence to their partner's career and preferences.
Within this social structure, women who decide to follow an academic career
feel that they must excel. The demand for excellence acts as an invisible
barrier within the gender power structure that prevents talented women from
pursuing an academic career in physics.
