Gender inequality in British and German universities

Abstract

Gender inequality exists within higher education in the UK and Germany. In the UK only 15.3% of professors in pre‐ and post‐1992 universities were women (2003), whilst in Germany only 8.6% attained the highest grade of professorship (2003). The research uses existing data sets combined with theoretical constructs to investigate the reasons for gender inequality in British and German higher education. It examines and evaluates equality legislation in action, it teases out the social and epistemological aspects of gendered behaviour within the work situation of female academics and it investigates why female academics have a more difficult time gaining promotion in German than in British universities.

Keywords:

• Gender inequality
• Higher education
• UK
• Germany
• Feminism
• Academic career structure

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the following for their help with this paper: Dr Andrea Löther of the Centre of Excellence Women and Science, Bonn; Professor Dr Beate Krais of the Technical University, Darmstadt; Ms Charlotte Nielsen of the Association for University Teachers; Ms Erica Halvorsen of the Equality Challenge Unit.

Notes

1. Some subjects, e.g. the humanities, demand a Habilitation more than others, e.g. engineering. It is possible to be given a Chair in Humanities or Social Sciences without having done a Habilitation, but this is exceptional.

2. Up to now in the FRG the differences only occurred for top ranking (‘C4’) professors, as the others did not have the opportunity to negotiate their salaries.

3. An Equality Assessment is already being carried out for the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise.

4. It should be noted that these representatives have been used in German universities since the 1980s and are not the direct result of mainstreaming.

5. Zur Gleichstellungsrecht an Hochschulen (CEWS, Bonn, available online at www.cews.org/cews/files/60/de/pdf_publik3.pdf, accessed 4 March 2006). Theoretically, the link between funding and gender equality is a powerful one, although models vary and sometimes attract only ‘lip service’. Usually the proportion of funding earmarked for equality is about 5%.

6. It should be pointed out that she was the Women's Representative there, so she was personally involved in what she was writing about.

7. The UK too spends on equality. As Halvorsen (2002b, p. 17) pointed out, HEFCE, the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals and the Standing Conference of Principals (SCOP) were set up to operate an Equal Opportunities Action Group in 2000 and had funding of £2.5 million for 5 years.