International events
Third European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education
Italy, April 2003
This conference was held in Genoa, Italy in April 2003. 150 delegates were enrolled, although the war and SARS did affect numbers. Almost half of these came from German-speaking Europe or the Nordic countries and 20 from the UK. Although Italy was host country, the representation from Southern Europe was disappointing. There were however delegates from Eastern Europe.
It is clear that there is very uneven development in gender equity in European universities. The European Commission has played a critical role in providing encouragement for equity, in particular in the sciences. This encouragement, eg in financial assistance for pilot or demonstration projects, can be considerable. In Germany and Nordic countries. state-driven policies to change gender balance and establishment of goals eg between universities and faculties, are common. In Finland, all women associate professors were promoted to professor. The UK has a more voluntarist system, with demonstration or investigation processes from the Equal Opportunity Commission, but no compulsion on institutions.
However where there is no strong legislation, progress is slow. In fact, a summary of the conference could be expressed frustration at the slowness of universities to accept and reward women staff with senior positions and research opportunities.
There were 8 presenters from Australia and 2 from NZ. Our papers showed the advantages of having well-publicised legislative bases and networks for sharing information on gender equity measures. But in a number of papers there was identification of continuing discrimination (albeit often unconscious) against women by men in senior positions. Interestingly there is evidence that in Australia we are beginning to look more closely at the experience of women in senior position and at the impact of organisational cultures - too many of the other papers contented themselves only with describing programs.
Sessions were organised in wonderful buildings in the old centre of Genoa, close to the port. Papers were presented in 4 tracks:
- Mainstreaming Gender Equity;
- Students and the Curriculum;
- Careers - achieving a gender balance;
- Continuing Education.
This report concentrates on Tracks 1 and 3. Track 1 on mainstreaming looked at the social, political and legal contexts. Papers considered issues such as organisational cultures (eg those dominated by male fear that excellence is compromised by equity); special programs; transformation of rhetoric into reality and systems issues (work-load, merit-pay). Keynote speaker Professor Joyce Hill, described the work of the recently-established UK Higher Education Equality Challenge Unit, which is an independent body designed to work on all forms of equity within higher education. This is a potentially powerful structure, but there is as yet little evidence of the impact of the unit. Judith Secker from Personnel at Oxford University discussed the importance of avoiding piecemeal activity but rather intervening both incrementally and systematically on a number of key points. Barbara Bagilhole (Loughborough, UK) reported on her research that showed how women in one higher education institution both showed resistance to and limited understanding of equity. Sara Hunter (Ulster) and Felicity Hunt (Cambridge) assessed problems in mainstreaming. Engela Pretorius (UFS), who was involved in WEXDEV South Africa, described how race has greater power as an equity principle than gender. Jenny Neale and David Mackay from Wellington NZ spoke on the importance of senior supporters for equity.
Among the Australians Sharon Bell (now PVC Equity at Griffith) discussed Wollongong University's equity programs, but highlighted the difficulties for senior women when cultures that focus on sport and competition dominate. Lesley Hayes (ANU) explored whether the requirement to have and report on a program for women was of any assistance in advancing women. Kate White (VU) highlighted the critical nature of the choices women make early in their academic careers and suggested promotions committees act as gatekeepers to women's success.
Track 3 looked at women's participation and barriers to progress. Papers highlighted problems in getting women in key decision-making positions and pointed to unconscious and subtle discriminations. Some papers looked at the experience of women as managers. Nina Toren (Israel) analysed women's transformational rather than transactional ways of managing. Kathy Monks and Pat Barker (Ireland) expressed the frustration of 2 senior women managers at inbuilt discrimination. Stefanie Ernst (Germany) used figurational analysis of gender and leadership.
The paper given by Anne Ross-Smith (UTS) and Colleen Chesterman was based on early analysis of the gender and management cultures research project and discussed the impact of senior women's different approach to management. Michelle Wallace from SCU discussed the new identities being developed by women managers. Anita Devos (UNSW) gave a paper on mentoring in the creation of academic identities.
Track 2 had interesting papers on women's studies and on non-traditional subjects for women, including one by Glynis Wattus (Newcastle). Many northern European papers described initiatives to improve women's participation in science-related fields.
Keynotes included Philomena Essed (Netherlands) who argued discrimination arises from a process of socio-cultural cloning that establishes the desirability of certain types - in higher education normative preferences for masculinity, whiteness etc.
Valeria Maione and Simonetta Manfredi discussed research at Genoa and Oxford Brookes in which senior women were questioned about their experiences; findings highlighted the importance of work-life balance.
The next European Equity Conference will be held at Oxford (UK) at Easter 2005; in 2007 Germany will be the host country.