Disrupting the Status Quo? Discrimination in Academic Promotions (original) (raw)
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Academic women's promotions in Australian universities
Employee Relations, 2006
Purpose -The purpose of this research is to examine the hypothesis that under-representation of women in Australian universities reflects barriers in the academic promotion process. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses three complementary approaches. Promotion policies and guidelines are examined using content analysis of documents from all Australian universities. A sample of 17 universities was selected for interviews with key gatekeepers to examine promotions practice. Data on promotions by level and gender were analysed for 16 of these universities 2000-2002. Findings -The analysis of promotions policies and guidelines established a range of practice. Policies supporting women's participation and success in promotions included explicit consideration of part-time and non-traditional careers, clear equity statements, and gender representation on promotions committees. Interviews emphasised the importance of support for and identification of female candidates, and the need for the establishment of institution-wide and performance targets for senior managers. Implicitly, most interviewees accepted the premise that women experienced barriers in the promotion process, including reticence in applying and stereotypically gendered notions of merit. However, the analysis of promotions data showed a more encouraging picture. Application rates and success rates for women are similar to men's and, at professorial level, slightly higher. Nonetheless women remain under-represented at senior levels, comprising only 16 per cent of the professoriate. Practical implications -The study provided a report to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) with a number of recommendations for improving University promotions policies. These recommendations are available on the AVCC website and have applicability beyond the Australian university sector. Originality/value -This study is an original study across all Australian universities which has international applicability and policy relevance.
Sex Discrimination in UK Academia
Gender Work and Organization, 2003
This article examines the gendered nature of employment in UK universities, showing women's experience of discrimination through differences in contract status and in access to academic hierarchies. It argues that the typical academic career path is structured according to a male perception of success: research-active, participating in the Research Assessment Exercise, an uninterrupted career history. The system of meritocracy upon which appointment and promotion within academic are based, the article argues, reinforces such a masculine approach to career success. These meritocratic systems of inequality reflect and reproduce the discursive practices of masculinity that present disadvantages to a majority of women and some men.
Sex discrimination, gender balance, justice and publicity in admissions
Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2010
This paper examines the problem of selecting a number of candidates to receive a good (admission) from a pool in which there are more qualified applicants than places. I observe that it is rarely possible to order all candidates according to some relevant criterion, such as academic merit, since these standards are inevitably somewhat vague. This means that we are often faced with the task of making selections between near-enough equal candidates. I survey one particular line of response, which says that we should allow our choice of borderline candidates to be guided by non-relevant criteria such as gender-balancing. I argue that this would not, as commonly objected, be a case of sex discrimination if it is to be applied either in favour of men or women. Nonetheless, I argue that such policies are problematic because they violate the demand for publicity, which is required for legitimacy and to assure everyone that discrimination has not in fact taken place. Instead, I suggest that, if we are concerned to avoid discrimination, there may be a case for using lotteries as tie-breakers, not on grounds of fairness but to prevent taint of bias.
The study sought to analyze compliance with two-thirds gender rule in appointments and promotions of staff in new public universities chartered in 2012 and 2013. Specifically, the study determined the gender composition of staff appointed or promoted after the provision of the gender rule in the constitution. The study used the survey research design that had a population of 15 public universities elevated in 2012 and 2013 and a sample size of six. Interview schedules were used to collect data from the sampled universities. This data contained gender of staff per staff division and staff level in appointments and promotions made in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and were analyzed using percentages. The findings showed that in total, men largely dominated appointments at senior level (66% males to 34% females) but there was no big difference in appointments at the middle level (51.2% males to 48.8% females) and support staff level (56.6% males to 43.4% females). In the teaching staff, men were the majority (64.6% males and 35.4% females) while no major discrepancy was noted in the non teaching staff (56.8% males to 43.2% females). Overall, 59.8% males and 40.2% females were appointed in the five universities in 3 years. Just like in appointments, promotions of senior level staff were dominated by men (69.5% males to 30.5% females). Men equally featured in the promotions at the support staff level (76.5% males to 23.5% females). There were no major discrepancy in promotions at the middle level staff as 44.2% males and 55.8% females were promoted. Promotions in the teaching staff were skewed towards men at 70.9%males and 29.1% women while it was almost gender balanced in the non-teaching staff at 51% males and 49% females. Overall, 65.3% males and 34.7% females were promoted in the five universities in 3 years. In conclusion, the two-thirds gender rule is complied with in the consolidated appointments and promotions of staff in the five universities. However, when appointments and promotions are broken down into various units such as staff levels and divisions, non-adherence is observed. The study recommends that when appointing and promoting staff, the gender rule consideration should be done per section and units rather than for a whole unit.
Gender Discrimination and Evaluators’ Gender: Evidence from Italian Academia
Economica, 2014
Relying on a natural experiment consisting in 130 competitions for promotion to associate and full professor in the Italian University, we analyze whether gender discrimination is affected by the gender of evaluators. Taking advantage of the random assignment of evaluators to each competition, we examine the probability of success of each candidate in relation to the committee gender composition, controlling for candidates' scientific productivity and a number of individual characteristics. We find that female candidates are less likely to be promoted when the committee is composed exclusively by males, while the gender gap disappears when the candidates are evaluated by a mixed sex committee. Results are qualitatively similar across fields and type of competitions and are robust to the exclusion of candidates who have withdrawn from competition and when controlling for a number of evaluators' characteristics. JEL classification: J71; M51; J45; J16; D72, D78 . A number of papers show that in many countries the gender wage gap is increasing across the wage distribution and that women face the so called "glass ceiling", that is, they remain greatly underrepresented in higher paying jobs and in top positions. These results can be due to undersized females' investments in human capital or less experience, but they may also be related to the fact that promotion procedures favor men rather than women. For example, some recent works examining promotions and pay in the academic labor market show that women suffer a disadvantage in promotions and a within-rank pay gap Ginther and Kahn 2004).
Managers are key in the appointment, promotion and remuneration of staff, and as such, they are actively involved when discrimination occurs in the workplace. This also applies to gender-based discrimination. The objective of the current research was to identify the points in human resource processes where genderbased discrimination most often occurs, as seen and experienced by managers. Interviews were conducted with 75 managers from 15 organisations. Questions were posed about the prevalence and nature of gender discrimination during different human resource processes. The responses were categorised and the overall inter-observer reliability was .88. Most cases of gender-based discrimination occur during promotion processes, and this generally involves profemale discrimination. Pro-male discrimination occurs at appointment level and is often due to the inherent requirements of the job. Discrimination at remuneration level seems to favour men, allowing them to receive higher salari...
Female Lecturers ’ Promotion
2011
The study explored barriers to promotion for university female lecturers to leadership positions. In Zimbabwe, women have gained legal rights through government pronounced policies such as the Gender policy and Affirmative Action policy (Government of Zimbabwe, 2004; Chabaya et al., 2009). The theoretical framework used is critical feminism which deals with issues that marginalize women from leadership roles in Zimbabwean universities. A qualitative research design was employed. Inductive reasoning was used to explore the research argument. The design enabled the researchers to establish how society perceives the practice of selecting leaders in institutions of higher learning. A sample of 60 lecturers, 30 males and 30 females was drawn from a population of 200 lecturers at Great Zimbabwe University. Data was collected using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The study found that very few women are in leadership positions. There is a culture of fear on the part of femal...
Are Male Employees Promoted More Often Than Females Who Are Just As Qualified?
Journal of diversity management, 2009
The purpose of this research is to determine if males are promoted faster than females who are equally qualified. Statistics based on empirical studies have shown that from the number of students who have pursued degrees from the undergraduate level to the master's level, females outnumber males by far. One can therefore only conclude (all things being equal) that academically there are more qualified females than males in the workplace. However when you look on companies' corporate websites, there are more males than females in top management positions. Data were collected from a sample of 130 professionals who varied by gender, age, education, work experience and minority or majority status. The results of this study demonstrate that gender discrimination is not a perceptual barrier in promotional opportunities. Implications for manager and employees are discussed.