Transcript Work, family and careers in Australian universities

Work, family and careers in Australian universities:
reviewing barriers to progression for women
International Women’s Day 2014
Gillian Whitehouse
Michelle Nesic
Background: recent trends in the gendered composition
of university employment in Australia
Figure 1: Percentage of women by academic level, 2000, 2005, 2010
60
50
40
2000
% women 30
2005
2010
20
10
-
A
B
C
D
E
Academic level
Source of data: Australian Government Department of Industry, Higher Education Statistics
DVC/VC
Background: recent trends in the gendered composition
of university employment in Australia, contd.
Figure 2: Percentage of women by HEW level, 2000, 2005, 2010
80
70
60
50
2000
% women 40
2005
2010
30
20
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
HEW levels
Source of data: Australian Government Department of Industry, Higher Education Statistics
10+
Questions…
What has been driving these changes?
 broader social trends…?
 progressive policy environments…?
Why isn’t change more extensive? To what extent is parenthood
a barrier to change?
1.
2.
3.
Does parenthood differ by gender in Australian university
employment? (Academic and Non-academic staff)
Does parenthood impact on careers differently for men and
women? (Using a selection of (a) ‘objective’ and (b) ‘subjective’
measures of career attainment, expectations and experiences as
indicators; Academic only at this stage)
How is the policy and work/family support environment
experienced? (Academic and Non-academic staff)
Work and Careers in Australian Universities
(WCAU) survey
 The WCAU survey was undertaken as part of an ARC Linkage project
(LPO991191 ), Gender and Employment Equity: Strategies for
Advancement in Australian Universities
 Partner Organisations: NTEU, UniSuper, Universities Australia
 Project team at Griffith University and UQ: Glenda Strachan, Gillian
Whitehouse, David Peetz, Janis Bailey, Kaye Broadbent
 National surveys of non-casual academic and general/professional staff,
& casual teaching staff, were conducted in late 2011. Response rates
and numbers for the surveys reported here are:
 General/professional staff survey 32% (10,683 useable responses)
 Academic staff survey 35% (8,391 useable responses)
Q1 Does parenthood differ by gender in
Australian university employment?
Table 1: Gender and presence of children: academic and nonacademic staff in Australian universities, 2011
Academic staff with
children < 18years
(%)
41.1
34.1
37.5
Men
Women
Total
Non-Academic staff with
children < 18years
(%)
34.5
29.6
31.1
Table 2: Gender and presence of children by level: academic level and
non-academic staff in Australian universities, 2011
Level A
Level B
Level C
Level D
Level E
Total
Academic staff with
children < 18years (%)
Men
Women
33.4
30.5
44.8
38.6
48.1
39.2
47.9
31.8
34.4
23.7
41.8
34.8
Source of data: WCAU Survey, 2011
HEW 1-4
Non-academic staff with
children < 18years (%)
Men
Women
21.6
27.2
HEW 5-7
32.8
29.2
HEW 8-10+
Total
42.3
35.3
33.9
29.9
Other potential influences on parenthood
(Academic staff)
• Age - age profiles of men and women in the dataset are very similar
• Continuing, fixed-term - highest levels of parenthood among men in
continuing positions
• T&R, RO, TF – levels of, and gender differences in, parenthood are
quite similar across these three categories
• Discipline – gender differences most marked in HASS, least marked
in Business and Law (no association with the degree to which
disciplines are female dominated)
• Full-time/part-time – part-time women are considerably more likely
than part-time men to be parents, but the reverse situation is
evident in (the considerably larger) full-time workforce
• Logistic regression shows that gender remains a significant influence
when other factors are controlled for. After accounting for other
potential influences, men in academia were around 1.5 times more
likely than their female counterparts to have one or more
dependent children under 18 years of age.
Q2(a) Does parenthood impact on careers differently for men and
women in academia? (‘Objective’ measures)
 Getting to senior levels, i.e. Level D or E (professoriate)
 Logistic regression on the likelihood of being at Level D or E, examining the
effect of gender and parenthood (and the interaction between them), while
controlling for:




age, years of academic employment in the sector
discipline
contract (T&R, RO, TF)
weekly working hours
 Associations were found with almost all variables:
 age and tenure were positively associated with likelihood of being at D or E;
 likelihood of being at D or E was greater in Science, Medical/Heath and Education
disciplines compared with HASS
 T&R and RO academics were more likely to be at senior levels than TF staff
 longer hours increased the likelihood of being at D or E
 Both gender and parental status had significant effects on the likelihood of
being at Level D or E, but these were moderated by the interaction between
gender and parental status such that having children made almost no
difference to men’s likelihood of being at levels D or E, but significantly
reduced women’s likelihood of being at those levels.
Figure 3: Parenthood by gender in senior (Levels D and E) and junior (Levels A-C)
academic positions
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
31
30
18
10%
13
0%
Men without children
Men with children
Level D-E
Source of data: WCAU Survey, 2011
Women without
children
Level A-C
Women with children
Q2(a) Does parenthood impact on careers differently for men and
women in academia? (Objective measures) contd...
 Success in promotion
 A clear majority of men and women who had applied for promotion in
the past five years had been ‘successful’ (defined as success in over 50%
of applications at their current or a previous university). Reported rates
were somewhat higher for women (than men) and for those with
(compared to those without) children.
Table 3: Reported success rates with promotion, academic staff by gender and parenthood
Women
Men
With children <18
84.5%
81.7%
Without children <18
79.2%
74.2%
Source of data: WCAU Survey, 2011
Q2(b) Does parenthood impact on careers differently for men
and women in academia? (‘Subjective’ measures)
Table 4: Five year career aspirations and expectations, male and female
academics with children who reported wanting to be at a higher level in five
years’ time
Would like to be at higher level, but
expect to be at the same level
Would like to be at higher level,
and expect to be at a higher level
Women with children
<18 years
242 (24.9%)
Men with children
<18 years
174 (19.0%)
675 (75.1%)
744 (81.0 %)
Table 5: Career opportunities missed due to caring responsibilities, male
and female academics with children
Have missed opportunities to apply
for promotion
Have missed other opportunities
(e.g., to travel, attend conferences)
Source of data: WCAU Survey, 2011
Women with children
<18 years
383 (24.2%)
Men with children
<18 years
177 (9.8%)
1051 (66.4%)
766 (42.5%)
Q3 How is the policy and work/family support environment
experienced by academic and non-academic staff?
Table 7: Working shorter hours on an ongoing basis, by gender and
academic/professional staff
ACADEMIC STAFF
Thought I would like this
Asked for this
Was granted in full
Was granted in part
Was refused
Women
1021(22.0%)
207
119 (61.3%)
25 (12.9%)
50 (25.8%)
Men
643 (14.7%)
132
49 (41.2%)
25 (21.0%)
45 (37.8%)
Total
1664
339
168
50
95
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Thought I would like this
Asked for this
Was granted in full
Was granted in part
Was refused
Women
1543 (19.0%)
516
262 (55.8%)
56 (11.9%)
151 (32.2%)
Men
563 (15.9%)
150
64 (48.9%)
17 (12.8%)
52 (39.1%)
Total
2106
666
326
73
203
Source of data: WCAU Survey, 2011
Conclusions/ Questions for discussion
 Are we making good progress, limited progress, or has progress
stalled?
 What are the major ongoing barriers?
 What can be done to speed up the move towards more gender
egalitarian employment in Australian universities?