UNSW Forum for Female Academics
0th December
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rory Hume, will hold a forum with academics on Wednesday 27 November, to brainstorm the issues surrounding gender equity in academic employment.
Twenty-nine percent of all academics at UNSW are female. While there is no evidence of systemic discrimination against women academics through UNSW policies and practices, many more women than men report that their roles as parents and carers have a significant negative impact on their careers. The current situation is at a cost to both women professionally and the University.
These were some of the findings from a report commissioned by the Equity and Diversity Unit from Professor Belinda Probert, of RMIT, to look at concerns regarding under-representation of women in academia.
While it appears that male and female academics have similar teaching and administrative loads and equal commitment to their research and careers, women have different career patterns compared to those of their male colleagues. Completing a doctorate and pursuing career advancement were both likely to be interrupted by family responsibilities, not only toward children, but also to aged parents or relatives. Nor is this period of interruption limited to the five years before children start school – the report found that the tensions between managing work and family were particularly high for parents of teenage children, affecting women at a critical time in the promotion path.
Professor Probert’s recommendations include increasing women’s promotion and PhD completion rates, examining the shortfall of child care and vacation care, exploring means of better mentoring and supporting staff, especially in finding more time to undertake their research activities.
CONTACT DETAILS: Louisa Wright, UNSW Public Affairs and Development, tel. 9385 3644 or Sybille Frank, tel. 9385 6354.
Twenty-nine percent of all academics at UNSW are female. While there is no evidence of systemic discrimination against women academics through UNSW policies and practices, many more women than men report that their roles as parents and carers have a significant negative impact on their careers. The current situation is at a cost to both women professionally and the University.
These were some of the findings from a report commissioned by the Equity and Diversity Unit from Professor Belinda Probert, of RMIT, to look at concerns regarding under-representation of women in academia.
While it appears that male and female academics have similar teaching and administrative loads and equal commitment to their research and careers, women have different career patterns compared to those of their male colleagues. Completing a doctorate and pursuing career advancement were both likely to be interrupted by family responsibilities, not only toward children, but also to aged parents or relatives. Nor is this period of interruption limited to the five years before children start school – the report found that the tensions between managing work and family were particularly high for parents of teenage children, affecting women at a critical time in the promotion path.
Professor Probert’s recommendations include increasing women’s promotion and PhD completion rates, examining the shortfall of child care and vacation care, exploring means of better mentoring and supporting staff, especially in finding more time to undertake their research activities.
CONTACT DETAILS: Louisa Wright, UNSW Public Affairs and Development, tel. 9385 3644 or Sybille Frank, tel. 9385 6354.
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