Transcript Slide 1

Gender Inequalities in British
and German Universities: a
quantitative study
Rosalind Pritchard,
School of Education, University of
Ulster, Northern Ireland, United
Kingdom
Thanks
The research was funded by the
Leverhulme Trust to whom I am very
grateful. There is also a qualitative
part to the study based on interview
data on which I presented last year at
EAIR. If you would like a draft of that
paper, just let me know.
The European Imperative
The Fourth Action Programme (19962000) on Equal Opportunities for
women and men featured gender
mainstreaming  incorporation into
all policies and activities.
The Social Dimension aims at equity
and equality of opportunity.
Gender equality is a human right, not
just a woman’s right.
Indicators of inequality
UK
2006/7
18.7% of
professors were
female.
Compare 2004:
16%
Pay: gap was 14%
for women from
2003 to 2006.
FRG 2006
11% in top C4/W3
category were
female.
Compare 2004:
9.2%
Pay: no available
figures?
Research Questions
How do participants define professional
“success”?
To what extent are women academics
believed to be making a valuable
contribution in their workplace?
What is the perceived effect of university
equality legislation designed to remedy
unfair practices in the workplace?
What are the perceived similarities and
differences between male and female
academics in the workplace?
Methodology
Questionnaire with 100 statements.
Strongly Agree/ Agree/ Disagree/
Strongly Disagree
Pre-1992 research intensive
universities in UK; equivalent in FRG.
Analysis by frequencies and
percentages; then 2X2 chi-square.
Other forms of analysis are planned
too (e.g. by subject area).
Sample
387 respondents in 21 universities
Male (M) 38%: Female (F) 62%
UK 49%: FRG 51%
12% were senior managers.
59% had tenure; 41% did not and ¾
of these were on contracts of ≤ 3
years.
47% with children.
Success
Becoming a full professor is the
ultimate indicator of success.
Women especially found it
unrewarding to do administration!
UK respondents and women claimed
to work very long hours, but were still
satisfied with their work-life balance.
Majority regarded research and
teaching as equally important.
Women’s contribution
The work of women is highly appreciated:
95% S/A that their contribution is
worthwhile.
97% S/D that they “do not really pull their
weight within the department”.
88% S/D that “Whatever inequality there is
within higher education comes from
women’s own lack of single mindedness”.
MEN REJECTED THESE NEGATIVE
STATEMENTS ABOUT WOMEN.
Bullying and Harassment
Very few people had suffered from
this: > 90% S/D that they had been
subjected to aggressive management,
been the subject of malicious jokes or
subjected to unjustified criticism of
their work, or blocked from training
opportunities. But some, esp. ♀ did
feel unfairly treated by a superordinate, or deprived of information
necessary to do their job.
Unfair work practices
There was NSD between ♀ & ♂ in
negative statements such as being denied
promotion, given too much work, set
unrealistic objectives, or had things that
they said twisted out of context.
However, more ♀ than ♂ felt that on
occasion, they had been isolated from
social activities.
Gendered Institutions?
Roughly ¾ of the sample thought that
universities are still gendered
organisations and that there were too
few women at the top; twice as many
♀ as ♂ agreed.
61% denied that equal treatment is
sufficient to ensure gender equality.
80% felt action is still needed on
maternity leave and child bearing.
Gender Mainstreaming
Just 59% thought the EU important in
promoting gender equality; and 59%
thought that gender issues had been
“mainstreamed” in their HEIs. But
about 1/3 did not understand the
term! ♀ understood better then ♂.
80% thought that even now the leaders in
their subjects tend to be male (and >50%
of ♀ thought so.
Discrimination against men? And
Gays?
80% s/disagreed that equality
legislation is now beginning to work to
the disadvantage of men.
90% disagreed that women are
exploiting equality legislation in a way
unfair to men.
Prejudice against gays is expected to
continue, especially by German
respondents.
Different Standards for Males and
Females?
Only 54% believed that male and
female academics should be judged
by a single standard in research. Over
twice as many in the UK as in FRG
agreed; 35% of ♀ disagreed.
There was almost a 50%: 50% split in
opinion that “Women academics have
embraced male values in my
discipline.”
Women’s self-deprecation?
Women were convinced that men are more
strategic in managing their careers (M
12%: F 48% S/A)
27% of women (but only 7% of men) thought
that ♀ adopt submissive attitudes towards those
higher up.
Three times as many ♀as ♂ thought that it was
more difficult for ♀to develop a good network.
MEN WERE VERY FAVOURABLE
TOWARDS WOMEN ON THESE
STATEMENTS.
Men are good in the emotional
domain
78% (especially women) S/A that men can
perform the caring role as well as women.
59% S/D that “women care more about
good personal relations at work”.
> female than male respondents agreed
that the senior men were good about
encouraging the more junior female
scholars.
WOMEN ARE POSITIVE ABOUT MEN’S
ADEQUACY IN THE AFFECTIVE
DOMAIN.
Positive developments
Women are highly respected as
academics.
The crass forms of sexism at work
have been largely eliminated.
Women and men have MUTUALLY
positive perceptions of each other’s
professional functioning.
Convergence and difference
There is convergence between them
in the importance that they attach to
feelings.
Yet there is space for difference even
such a core matter as judging
research standards.
EROSION OF BINARY IDENTITY;
GENDER IS NO LONGER A SIMPLE
NATURAL FACT.
Final word and thank you for
listening
“[M]ost people who experience
unfair disadvantage do so because
they are female, or black, or
disabled, or gay, or old (and any
combination of those).” University
and College Union, UK.