By Belinda Brown: In a paper I presented yesterday to the Kings College Maudsley Debates, I set out why the under-representation of women in the highest echelons of academia does not reflect inequality of opportunity, or even a lack of gender equality.
It simply reflects the differences between women and men. Furthermore, attempts to change this are not only ineffective, they are counterproductive.
First of all, it is a myth that women are being discriminated against in recruitment. Recent research shows, to the contrary, that faculty members prefer female applicants by 2:1 over identically qualified males. A report from the Paris School of Economics, which analysed 100,000 applications to high level teaching positions, found an overwhelming gender bias in favour of women. In the past, it is true that gender discrimination was a cause of women’s under-representation in academia, but this claim has continued to be invoked when it is no longer valid.
So if we women are not discriminated against why are they still so under-represented in the upper echelons of academia?
There is an incredibly strong feminist ideological drive to ignore sex differences as an explanation, but you do not have to scratch far beneath the surface to find that, although we exist on a spectrum, we are binary – male and female - best reflected in our different relationship to the central reproductive role.
It simply reflects the differences between women and men. Furthermore, attempts to change this are not only ineffective, they are counterproductive.First of all, it is a myth that women are being discriminated against in recruitment. Recent research shows, to the contrary, that faculty members prefer female applicants by 2:1 over identically qualified males. A report from the Paris School of Economics, which analysed 100,000 applications to high level teaching positions, found an overwhelming gender bias in favour of women. In the past, it is true that gender discrimination was a cause of women’s under-representation in academia, but this claim has continued to be invoked when it is no longer valid.
So if we women are not discriminated against why are they still so under-represented in the upper echelons of academia?
There is an incredibly strong feminist ideological drive to ignore sex differences as an explanation, but you do not have to scratch far beneath the surface to find that, although we exist on a spectrum, we are binary – male and female - best reflected in our different relationship to the central reproductive role.
