Gender equality in universities - EducationGuardian.co.uk

Just a quick post to highlight what the Guardian is saying about what I mentioned last week to celebrate Chami Chakrabarti's appointment as our Chancellor here at Oxford Brookes University:

Jessica Shepherd reports Tuesday June 17, 2008 - As of this summer, the chancellor of Oxford Brookes University will be a woman. So will the chair of governors. So will the student union president. The vice-chancellor, one of her deputies and one of her pro- vice-chancellors already are....But while higher education may still be thought of as trailing behind other sectors as far as gender equality goes, it is catching up, as Northampton, Oxford Brookes and Winchester show.

In 2006, 42% of senior management posts in UK universities were held by women, while in 2003, 28% were, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. It might not be by much, but the percentage of professors who are female has also nudged ahead from 15% in 2003 to 17.5% in 2006. And it is the new universities, in particular the post-92s such as Oxford Brookes, that are leading the change. How have they done it?

"Women typically wait until they have more papers published than Dickens before they apply for a professorship, while men have a go," says Professor Janet Beer, vice-chancellor of Oxford Brookes. "We've changed this by developing a culture in which people, regardless of gender and ethnicity, feel they can put themselves forward for leadership positions."

Brookes encourages flexible working, career breaks, and offers maternity and paternity leave that is more generous than usual.

It has paid off. The university is soon to have a predominantly female top team, with Beer as vice-chancellor; Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights pressure group Liberty, as its new chancellor; a new chair of governors, the Oxfordshire county council chief executive, Joanna Simons; and a new student union president, Lina Mughal.

A pro- vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor are also female. This leaves just two out of five senior management posts occupied by men - a deputy vice-chancellor and a pro- vice-chancellor.

Read the rest. Good stuff!

Actually - we could go one step further and find that now five out of eight deans, heads of academic schools, will soon be women, though I reckon it's only two out of six (three of seven including the Students Union) in the non-academic directorates. But still, a pretty good balance down as far as second tier management!