"Women are disproportionately underrepresented in science", says the documentary Picture a Scientist. This far-reaching film was made available by the EUR for International Women's Day, a day dedicated to female achievements. Picture a Scientist painfully exposes how the dominant male norm underlies the traditional under-representation of women in academia. As the documentary points out, there has been an improvement in recent years, but still no gender equality.
Author: Diversity and Inclusion team ESSB
The EUR has made progress in this area in recent years, which can be traced back to policy measure 25/25. This programme supports female scientists' development into associate professors or assistant professors through mentoring and feedback on their portfolios. In addition, the number of female professors within the ESSB has also increased significantly. To make the next steps, it is essential to break specific patterns and enter into dialogue. Sociologist Mark van Ostaijen and Sociology master's student Marieke Pechtold contribute to this with their research on gender inequality.
The role of men in gender emancipation
During the Women's Day Keynote event, dr. Mark van Ostaijen addressed the role of men in the emancipation debate. According to Mark van Ostaijen, this role is problematic because men are exempted from emancipation while the role of women is problematised.
As a result, the masculine norm remains the dominant one within important positions at universities. Mark emphasises: "It is not the role of women that we should be problematising, but the role of the one who embodies the full-time ideal: the man. This requires structural investments and managerial guts, but is necessary to create space for male emancipation within the ESSB or EUR."
Recruitment and selection procedures in the academic world
Marieke Pechtold, MSc Sociology student Engaging Public Issues, is currently working on a thesis about gender inequality in the academic world. She focuses on Erasmus MC, where 24% of the professors is currently female, a number that is almost equal to the national average of 24.4%. Marieke Pechtold's research specifically focuses on recruitment and selection procedures, which still seem to be too much geared towards male characteristics in the academic world. Research shows, for instance, that women are at a disadvantage in selection procedures due to the stereotypical image of the male scientist that still exists. Because of this stereotypical image, a man meets the label of 'excellent' more quickly than a woman (Van den Brink & Benschap, 2012).
Individualisation prevents a critical view of structure
Marieke also states that current procedures at the university, such as the 25/25 rule, mainly focus on the individual, to the detriment of a critical look at the organisation. This ensures that the woman has to adapt to what is asked, while the organisation could also adapt by valuing other qualities.
Mark's research shows that the 'free choice' issue has frequently recurred in emancipation policies over the past 50 years. This illustrates that this issue is repeatedly individualised, thus ignoring structural forms of discrimination and exclusion of women. Thus, there is a structure in which men constantly maintain their lead. Pregnancy, for example, ensures that women are excluded from the labour market for longer than men. Mark, therefore, argues for policies that problematise the male norm rather than persistently pushing women to adapt to the masculine norm.
Exemplary role of universities
The important practical questions remain: how can we ensure a better flow and representation of female talent? Moreover, how do we create an environment where men and women are equally present?
Marieke Pechtold thinks that universities, as progressive institutions, could take an exemplary role since they can directly investigate the effect of structural changes. Also, she emphasises that having good examples on a smaller scale, such as a male professor who opts for longer parental leave, is also important. This also illustrates the dominant masculine full-time norm, which hinders men in higher education who are willing to take steps towards gender emancipation.
Part-time workers less committed
A recurring element in the stories of both an administrative sociologist and a graduating student on this subject is that the problem lies above all in society. In our Western society, the full-time norm is valued most highly, while this is a norm that does not appear to work equally for everyone. It is important to lift the male dispensation of emancipation by setting up policies for male emancipation, according to Mark van Ostaijen. This starts with problematising the masculine norm and creates room for male emancipation within the ESSB or EUR. In the current situation, astriking contradiction arises: The Netherlands is a part-time work champion, but progressive organisations contribute to a culture where working part-time equals being less committed. This is not in line with reality, as experiments in other countries show that shorter working days or weeks result in more productivity (Bregman, 2013). By taking these research results seriously and daring to act on them within universities, we will hopefully see a future beyond the masculine norm.
Sources:
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2012). Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19(4), 507-524.
Bregman, R. (2013, October 4). De oplossing voor (bijna) alles: minder werken. De Correspondent. Retrieved from https://decorrespondent.nl/3/de-oplossing-voor-bijna-alles-minder-werken/115335-ad6c6f0b
- Researcher