Perspectives of excellent early career mathematicians on their scientific careers

Women are underrepresented in academic mathematics. In addition to existing barriers, the reasons for this include different career motivations for women and men. The career path in particular is assumed to be unattractive for women in regard to work-life balance. Interviews are used to compare the perspectives of female and male early career researchers in a mathematics cluster of excellence on their academic careers. The context allows a look into excellent, research-related contexts with good career perspectives. There were hardly any gender-specific differences in the narratives. Work-life compatibility as an exit motive was only an issue for men. The findings also point to the unattractiveness of the professorship.