1

Women in Higher Education and Research

Prof. Dr. Gülsün SAĞLAMERIstanbul Technical University

19 September 2013Friedrich-Alexander Universitat

Erlangen-Nürnberg

56. Jahrestagung der Kanzlerinnen und Kanzlerder Universitaten Deutschlands

2

Content

Challenges for Higher EducationDevelopment of Human ResourcesIntroduction to Gender EqualityEU Policy on Women in Science Facts /Observations

Women in HEResearch FundingWe Need Structural Changes

Women Leadership in Higher EducationQuestions and Conclusions

Higher Education

Defining the role of higher education in society and

……..devising strategies for implementing that role is a

never- ending task as society itself is in continuous flux.

Individual institutions of higher education may choose to be active players in worldwide efforts to reformulate the functions and strategies of higher education

………..or they may be content with implementing received wisdom from best practices around the world, but some may

choose to resist change entirely by preserving their

existing mode of operation

Saglamer/Karakullukcu 2004.

3

How to develope Human Resources?

Half of the population of the world is “female”

Beside “gender” there are also ethnical, cultural, social, religous, economic, educational, age, physical ability… differences amongpeople which we call “diversity” in population

"Diversity refers to human qualities that are different from our ownand those of groups to which we belong; but that are manifested in other individuals and groups” (http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/diversity/why-diversity)

How to handle these differences in human resources management

If we are heading to set our strategies to use our human resources in an efficient and effective way to compete at

individual-institutional-national-regional-global levels and…

at the same time maintain equality in human resources and qualityin our achievements ?

We need to make structural changes… but for these changes we needto change our mind set first which is the most difficult part of theprocess.

4

How to develope Human Resources?

My focus will be on WOMEN today

Have we been able to educate women and men

o at the same level

o in the same proportions

o distributed accross different study areas homogenously

o Giving the same chances to both gender to climb upupper levels of decision making

5

Introduction to Gender Equality

Gender inequality issue is a problem which is as old as human historyand we have reasons not be overoptimistic in our expectations whenwe remember that women were accepted to colleges and universitiesonly 150 years ago.

We should be patient and persistent about reaching the substantiveimprovements that we seek. One can hope that in an era of accelerating change, gender mainstreaming will eventually come tobe actualized.

Data for academic staff by gender show patterns of both horizontal segregation which describes women’s asymmetrical participation in scientific areas

vertical segregation which is used to define the difficulties women face in their career progressions

6

7

Where are the women in academia?

Marina Marchetti, 2008

8

Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet

• "Everyone, just about, has heard something about Voltaire, and most of it is flattering. Freethinker, dramatist, poet, scientist, economist, spy, politician and successful speculator to boot, he embodies the intellectual breakthrough of the Enlightenment—the single biggest leap in mankind’s understanding of itself and the world.

• Almost nobody has heard of the woman with whom he shared most of his life, Emilie du Châtelet (1706-1748).

• But you can make a good case that she was a more rigorous thinker, a better writer, a more systematic scientist, a formidable mathematician, a wizard gambler, a more faithful lover and a much kinder and deeper person. And she did all this despite being born a woman in a society where female education was both scant and flimsy.”

The Economist (May 18th, 2006) reviews David Bodanis’s book Passionate Minds : The Great Enlightenment

Love Affair (Little Brown, October, 2006).

9

Did we have a good start?

Voltaire, in a letter to his friend

King Frederick II of Prussia,

declared that du Châtelet was

"a great man whose only fault

was being a woman"

Émilie du Châtelet

History of Gender Equality

Gender Equality

• 1st Wave 1918 equal perspective(tinkering)*Equal rights&opportunities

• 2nd Wave 1960 women’s perspective(tailoring)*Equality outcomes, positive actions

• 3rd Wave 1990 gender perspective(transforming)*integrating gender equality into mainstream systems

* Rees , 2005

10

Direct positive measures such as ………women’s quotas for full professorship or……………………………..earmarked stipends for female candidates etc. often are disqualified as inferring with neutrality and meritocracy of science.

Can “Changing Legislation” solve the problem?CIREM,Meta-analysis of gender and science research, FP7, 2007-2010

Legislation can affect the position of women in science in two main ways;• firstly it can prevent discrimination–gender equality(EO) • secondly it can promote positive actionThe third way-gender mainstreaming might also base its policies on legislative

developments

On the other hand,

Cultural and social patterns play more important role than the new legislation.

Therefore we need bottom up (cultural channges) andtop down (new legislation)

to make successful changes in gender equality

Institutionalization of efforts

“The institutionalisation of gender and women’s studies provides an importantindicator to which degree gender has arrived in mainstream science. Theestablishment of university departments for gender and women’s studiesprovides a public recognition on the importance of gender issues”

11

EU Policy on Women in Science

12

o Ever since the treaty of Rome, the European Union has consistently advocates gender equality as one of its core policies.

o Yet despite the efforts to promote gender in research, womenremain under-represented and issues of gender is far from beingsystematically addressed in research projects.

o What is more, there are sound reasons for the researchcommunity to invest in a gender-sensitive research agenda.

o Investing on equal opportunities for men and women in researchmakes teams that perfortm better and attracts top-levelresearcher

http://www.genderedinnovations.eu

13

EC - Women and Science Policy

Major policy concerns started to appear late 1990s

o Commission Communication (1999)

o Helsinki Group on Women and Science 1999

o Gender-Watch-System 1998-2002 (FP5)

o Science and Society Action Plan 2002-2006 (FP6)

o EC proposed to fix targets for women’s representation in decision makingpositions in science, 2004

o Excellence and innovation - Gender equality in science (2005)

o Council Conclusions on women in decision-making positions in S&T – April 2005

o Gender Pact (European Council, March 2006)

o Council Conclusion on Family friendly research careers - February 2008

o Prag 2009, “changing research landscape to make the most of human potential 10 years of EU activities in “Women and Science” and BEYOND

o Women in Science Programme (FP6-FP7)

Evolution of Gender Concerns in Science Policy in Europe

Some milestones

– ETAN (European Technology Assessment Network) 1999

– Women and Science Unit 1999

– Women in Industrial Research (WIR), 2001

– ENWISE (Enlarge Women in Science to East), 2002

– She Figures 2003, 2009, 2012

– ETAN Report “Promoting Excellence through Mainstreaming

Gender Equality” , 2002

– Euroepan Platform for Women Scientists, 2005

– Women in Science and Technology, 2005

– Women in Research Decision Making (WIRDEM), 2006

– The Gender Challenge in Research Funding Report, 2009

14

Many Research projects and Conferences have been funded under the FrameworkProgrammes across Europe on Women in Science, Women in Academia, Women in Industrial Research, Women Leadership in Academia… Science and /in Society genderprojects have been grouped under 7 headings. Completed projects by 2010 : 40

What are the Main Achievements in EU

In Summary, in order to advance towards the goal of gender equity in science andresearch, the EU and national governments have established the following set ofintervention strategies:

• Implementing structural changes to make human resource management moregender aware in universities and research institutions and modernising theorganisational culture

• Increasing women’s participation in science, technology and innovation, especially in industrial research

• Empovering women in decision making positions in public research and privatecompanies

• Reconciling professional and private life (family-friendly working environment)

• Reducing leaky pipeline and building a business case for work-life balance in universities and research institutes

• Redefining research excellence with the participation of women

• Overcoming gender bias in assessment criteria

• Strenghtening gender research across the whole European countries.

• Increasing number of Women Rectors and Vice Rectors in Europe

15Marie Curie Programme has already reached 40% Female participation

Supporting EC policy on Gender and Scince

1. Communication on the ERA 2012:

o Gender is one of 5 priorities:

o “Gender equality and gender mainstreaming in research: Encouraginggender diversity to foster science excellence and relevance”.

Member states are invited to:o Create a legal and policy environment and provide incentives.

o Engage in partnerships with funding agencies, research organizationsand universities to foster cultural and institutional change on gender.

o Ensure that at least 40% of the under-represented sex participate incommittees involved in recruitment/career progression and inestablishing and evaluating research programs.

2. Horizon 2020, Art. 15:o Structural change for ensuring equal opportunities and promoting

women’s careers.o Promoting integration of gender dimensions in research and innovation

content

3. Recommendation on Gender and Science, expected 2014

16

Some additional requirements!

17

“THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH FUNDING: Assessing the European National Scenes”, 2009 EC,DG for Research,Science, Economy and Society EUR23721EN

•Women now constitute about50% of first degree students in many countries all over the world

•Women representation at undergraduate level is higher thanmen in many European countries .

•There are considerable variationsin the proportion of womenstudents between disciplines

•The percentage of full professorswho are women is very lowworldwide, for the most part, below 15%

Facts

Figure 3.1: Proportions of men and women in a typical academic career, students and academic staff, EU-27, 2002–2010, , SHE figures, p. 88

Figure 3.2: Proportions of men and women in a typical academic career in science and engineering,students and academic staff, EU-27, 2002–2010, ,

SHE figures, p. 89

Figure 1.6: Proportion of female researchers, 2009, , SHE figures, p. 26

Figure 1.9: Proportion of female researchers by sector, 2009, , SHE figures, p. 31

Table 3.1: Proportion of female academic staff by grade and total, 2010, SHE Figures 2012 ,p.90

A Grade : Romania36 %, Lituania 32%, Turkey 28%

Who decides on Academic promotions or Research Funding?

23

“THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH FUNDING: Assessing the European National Scenes”, 2009 EC,DG for Research,Science, Economy and Society EUR23721EN

Figure 3.3: Proportion of women in grade A academic positions, 2002–2010, SHE figures, p. 91

Table 3.2: Proportion of female grade A staff by main field of science, 2010, SHE figures, p. 93

Some Observations

At Grade A level (professors) EU -27 average: 20 %Highest ranking countires :Romania 36%– Lithuania3 2% – Turkey28%

Germany : 15%

At Grade B level (associate professors) EU -27 average : 37 %Turkey: 35 %Germany : 21%

At Grade C level (assistantprofesors ) : EU- 27 : 44 % Turkey : 48 %Germany : 27%

At Grade D level (researchassistants) : EU- 27: 46 %Turkey: 48 %Germany : 41%

Total EU-27: 40% Turkey : 40% Germany : 36%

16

Se

pte

mb

er

20

09

, N

anji

ng

ITU Case: Proportion of Female Academics/Students %

94-95 99-00 04-05 09-10 2012

•Professor 16 20 29 32 35

•Assoc.Prof 31 35 36 42 41

•Assist.Prof. 28 38 46 39 42

•Research Assist. 20 35 37 45 46

•Total 28 31 36 39 42

Female Students 34% Total, 38% Master, 42% PhD (2012)

Proportion of Women Academics in Turkey 2003-2012 %Prof. Assoc.Prof Asst. Prof

•2003-2004 25.64 32.82 30.20•2004-2005 26.54 31.67 31.15•2005-2006 26.59 31.43 32.13•2006-2007 27.12 30.99 33.15•2009-2010 28.00 34.00 34.00•2011-2012 29.00 31.00 35.00•2012 47% Research Assistant, 46% Total Students are female

Turkish Higher Education

Some Observations

o The proportion of femalestudents at every levels in HE keep increasing

o Female students’s interest on SET is also increasing but slower than the increase in HE in general

o Succes rates of femalestudents are higher thanmales in many countries

o Many females in academiahave high level of empathyand communication skills, ability of multi-tasking

28

o Female students tend toconcentrate on certainfields of study areas

o Promotion of Femaleacademics is a leakypipeline

o Female researchers haveless ambition to be inleading positions andcredits that they achieveusually go to male boss

o Work-life balance of femaleresearchers are neglectedin many institutions

Research Funding

29

“THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH FUNDING: Assessing the European National Scenes”, 2009 EC,DG for Research,Science, Economy and Society EUR23721EN

Depending on the representation of femeleacademics in different countries number of research project applications are lower than maleacademics but succes rates differ from coutry tocountry. In some countries female researchershave even better success rates but not applied toall of the scientific fields

GermanyGender specific success rates (in %) for DFG IndividualGrants, 2004, by scientific disciplines

female male differenceNatural Sciences 38.0 43.8 - 5.8Eng.andTech. 29.6 31.4 - 1.8Medicine 34.4 37.7 - 3.3Agriculture 29.8 38.7 - 8.9Social Sciences 34.5 38.7 - 4.2Humanities 45.5 40.5 + 5.0Source: DFG, own calculations

NetherlandNWO Innovation Research Incentives Scheme 2002-2007TOTAL Veni/ Vidi/ Vici (including additional budget)

Male PI Female PINumber of applications 4470.5 2055.5Number funded 921.5 473.5Success rate 20.6% 23.0%(NWO, Romijn, October 2008)PI = Principal Investigator

Reserach Funding

United KingdomSuccess rates of various Research Councils Male Female• BBSRC Project grants 2006 success rates 27.2 % 23%• BBSRC project applications 2006 78.1 % 21.9 %• EPSRC research grants success rates 27 % 27 %• NERC project grants success rates 25 % 19 %• NERC application % and numbers 80 % (827) 20 % (207)• STFC project grant applications % and numbers 87.2 % (275) 13.4 % (37)

Sources: BBSRC (2007) EPSRC (2007) NERC (2007) STFC (2008)

30

TurkeyOne of the main National Research funding agency is TUBITAK. Under two different programmes( BIDEP and ARDEP) succes rates of female and male researchers show no significant differences; BIDEP: female : 28% male:26%. ARDEP: female : 37.6 male: 35.6% (TUBITAK, Basaran 2008)

With regard to these percentages, a fair share of women as members of the prestigious Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) could be expected, but the participation of women is only 13.7 %. In comparison to other European countries, women are very well represented in Turkish science, although not equally. Women are also doing well in obtaining funding.

We Need Structural Changes

Researchers, administrators and practitioners in gender equality in science were invited to

participate in a participatory event by the EC to discuss how to advance structural change in order

to improve gender equality in research organisations in Europe (2011).

Requirements for sustainable structural changes:

• Commitment to and setting in place instruments for implementation

• Modernization of research management

• Changes to recruitment procedures in research organisations

• Changes to standards and practices for retaining women in research organisations

• Changes to intersectorial mobility and peer review

Requirements for monitoring and measuring impact to justify use of public resources:

• Benchmarking

• Gender audits

For structural change to be innovative, effective and efficient pursuing a holistic approach and

implementing an integrated toolbox for addressing each of the above identified multi-layered

dimensions are indispensable. The adoption of legal instruments and provision of incentives

for bringing forward gender equality in research organisations may be considered as the most

important factors for successful implementation.

INITIATING AND SUSTAINING STRUCTURAL CHANGE Reflection on the outcomes of the workshop on STRUCTURAL CHANGE in order to improve Gender Equality in Research Organisations in Europe Towards a Recommendation to the Member States 30 June – 1 July 2011,

31

Women Leadership in Higher Education

Leaders in academia play a key role for gender equality.

We need leaders men and women who are giving a greatimportance to gender and diversity issues to enhance theirinstitutions capacity for reaching excellence in their achievements.

At European level EUA is one of the largest university associationwith some 900 member universities. Among EUA member universities; 2008 42 women leaders2010 75 women leaders

Turkish case:Among 178 universities

12 rectors, 18 vice rectors, 96 deans are female

32

Figure 4.1: Proportion of female heads of institutions in the Higher Education Sector (HES), 2010, , SHE figures, p. 115 SHE Figures 2012

Annex 4.1: Number of heads of institutions in the Higher Education Sector (HES) by sex, 2010, , SHE figures, p. 125

Figure 3.6: Glass Ceiling Index, 2004-2010, 96

“THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH FUNDING: Assessing the European National Scenes”, 2009 EC,DG for Research,Science, Economy and Society EUR23721EN

European Women Rectors’ Conferences

“Women Academics Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women Rectors Across Europe” (11 th November 2008)

This meeting was organized as pre-conference meeting of the UNICAFEdissemination conference titled “Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women Academics in Engineering, Technology and Life Sciences Across Europe”. 20 participant from 9 countries.

II. European Women Rectors’ Conference Women Rectors Across Europe, Women Leadership in Higher Education : (12-14 April 2010, Istanbul) ; 42 participants were registered (12 Turkish and 30 international) 49 participants were present (28 international and 21 Turkish)

III. European Women Rectors’ Conference: Beyond the Glass CeilingAchievements, Challenges and Opportunities (21-23May 2012)

In this third meeting we will have 79 participants, with some 60 of these coming from29 countries in Europe and Asia, and also from Africa.This conference also hosted thesub-conference of the 6th Conference of WWUPF to be held in China in 2014.

IV. European Women Rectors’Conference May 2014, Istanbul

36

Questions

o How to combine efforts at national, regional andglobal levels ?

o How to define urgent problems ?o How to convince male and female decision makers

to take actions for realising gender mainstreamingat institutional-national and global levels ?

o How to help researchers/academics to• Remove barriers and obstacles for women in HE

to create opportunities for them reachingleadership/ decision making positions

• Reduce the leaky pipeline and how to build a strategy for work-life balance.

• Encourage women to compete for decisionmaking/leadership positions?

37

Conclusions

Dependable Data: We need a dependable which will include all the informationrelated to women in HE-research-innovation and women leadership to do extensive research on gender equality and take the necessary actions forimplementation and monitoring in HE.

Structural Changes: We need structural changes in order to change the culture at institutional and national levels. Therefore we need gender action plans whichwill remove unconcious and concious biases towards gender equality to createawareness about gender mainstreaming at every level.

Leaders/Leadrship: We need leaders and decision makers (female/male) in academiawho will be determined to make contributions to gender equaltiy in theirinstitutions.

Actions for Equality: We should encourage young female generations especiallyyoung academics to take actions towards achieving equality in higher educationand research at every level including leading positions of the HE World.

and …..

Funding: We need reasonable funding from Nation states and from EC to supportthese projects and actions

38

Thank You

40

References

•Rees,T., (2005), Mainstreamimg Gender Equality in Science in the European Union: the ETAN Report, Gender and Education, Vol,13,No.3, pp243-260, 2001•The Associationfor Women Faculty, The University of Arizona, Home Page: Historical Context: Women In Academia, 2005• Saglamer,G.,“ Leadership in Higher Education with Special Reference toWomen Leadersin Academia” in Decision-makers and Administrators Leadership and Governance Handbook, suppl. volume 1, 2013 , V02 Dr. Josef Raabe Verlags-GmbH•Saglamer,G., 2008,” Increase Sutainability and Attract Resources to Engineering Education”, 2nd Engineering Deans’ Conference ofEuropean Universities of Technology, Technical University of Berlin, 24-26 February 2008,•Michael Fullan & Geoff Scott, Jossey-Bass, 2009 Turnround Leadership for Higher Education•Jay Kubler , Nicola Sayers “Research Development Series : Higher Education Futures: key Themes and Implications for Leadership andManagement, First Published in October 2010 Leadership Foundation for Higher Education•Curtis L. Brungardt , The New Face of Leadership: Implications for Higher Education(Horizon Home Page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/horizon)•Saglamer, G., Karakullukcu, M., 2004. Istanbul Technical University 1996-2004: Crafting A Design for Permanence at The Forefront of Knowledge Creation, OECD Conference 2004, Paris •SHE Figures, 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, EC•UNICAFE Project: Survey of the University Career of Female Scientists at Life Sciences versus Technical Universities UNICAFE Project was funded under FP6 of the European Union SAS6-CT-2006-036695 (2006-2008).• Meta-analysis of Gender and Science Research Project This project was funded under the FP7 (FP7 RTD–PP–L4–2007–1) (2008-2010).The final report forms part of the overall effort to produce a meta-analysis of gender and science research across Europe (FP7 RTD–PP–L4–2007–1).• “Beyond the Glass Ceiling: European Women Rectors Conferences” , Istanbul Technical University Center for Women Studies in Science, Engineering and Technology has been organizing European Women Rectors Conferences since 2008 (2008-2010-2012)• Network for Women Academics Project (KAAG) (2011-2013) National Project NETFA (National) ITU has been leading a project on Network of Female Academicans in Turkey•CoHE, Council of Higher Education, 2010, Higher Education in Turkey (www.yok.gov.tr)•“THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH FUNDING: Assessing the European National Scenes”, 2009 EC,DG for Research,Science, Economy andSociety EUR23721EN•INITIATING AND SUSTAINING STRUCTURAL CHANGE Reflection on the outcomes of the workshop on STRUCTURAL CHANGE in order to improve

Gender Equality in Research Organisations in Europe Towards a Recommendation to the Member States 30 June – 1 July 2011, Dragana Avramov