Addressing a conference organised ahead of Women's Day, she said however that positive changes had been seen in recent years.

Slovenia is striving to create an environment of equal opportunities for men and women, she told the event organised by the ministry's Commission for Women in Science on Monday.

In Slovenia, the gap between men and women in science is the most apparent in the shares of positions the sexes hold in academia.

About a half of doctoral graduates in the country are women, but the share drops higher up the title ranking, surveys show. There are 43% women among associate professor teaching at Slovenia's universities and 33% among assistant professors. Only 23% of full professors are women.

Surveys also indicate horizontal gender segregation, which means that there is a large share of women doctoral graduates in medicine and social sciences, but only 17% in technical sciences.