Female minority at universities

Women are doing quite well in hiring and tenure processes at major research universities, however they are still underrepresented in the number of aspirants.

A survey was made to make out how women were faring compared to men at key points in their respective carreers. The study examines the hiring process as well as the application for tenure at universities who stress the importance of math, science and engineering.

The results tell us that -when it comes to being considered for tenure or a job – women are not prejudiced, yet they represent just a fraction of all the people who apply for such job or tenure.

Hence, institutions are succeeding at lowering the gender gap but they are still dealing with a persistent underrepresentation of women in the application pool.

The report says that the only effective strategy to deal with the aforementioned issue is to have a search committee with lots of women and a female chair.

In my opinion, the institutions (as well as all the other companies) must also make an effort to provide a women friendly environment at the work floor. When a company makes you feel at home, you'll be more likely to apply there than anywhere else.

source: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12062

Mike De Ridder

Women In Boardrooms

Women are being out-numbered by men in boardrooms. Research has shown that only 5 pct of boardroom seats are taken by women, who mostly occupy part-time roles as non-executive directors.

Companies encourage women to apply for top jobs through a FTSE 100 cross-mentoring programme. This implies that a woman is being mentored by a chairman or chief executive from a rival company. The woman’s boss on the other hand has to mentor a female co-worker from the other company.

A recent study has shown that the presence of women in the boardroom has an impact on corporate governance, while it doesn’t have a significant influence on the company’s profits. Another study found that in times of crisis, the chance of a bankruptcy lowers by a staggering 20 pct when there is at least one female executive. (Guardian)

I believe that the cross-mentoring programme can really make a difference in breaking the glass ceiling. It helps women to overcome barriers, but it especially teaches the male co-workers to appreciate women in their working environment.

Furthermore, I find it remarkable to see that in times of crisis, women play an important role in maintaining the company's going concern. This could be resulting from the women's nature to create a risk-free environment.

Nathalie De Smet

"Glass escalator"-effect

The "glass escalator" or "glass ceiling"-effect can be explained easily. It refers to situations where someone, male or female, applies for a job in the hierarchy of an organization and isn't aloud to practice it because of discrimination, like sexism or racism. 

Young and James (2001) and O'Lynn (2004) describe how men are more likely to be promoted up to more "legitimate" positions when they work in female-dominated professions. 

For example, in a hospital, under the nursing staff, when they have a population of 30 nurses, and 5 of them are male, it is most likely these men will be occupied with the management.

Look at daycares. All the women take care of the children, while the men (if there are any men in the first place!) take care of the administration. And perhaps one of the female workers is better at administration, but it fades away next to the fact the is a man...

It is a phenomenon I can only agree with. Nowadays, it is normal if men are prefered for more "men-like" jobs. I think it is a shame this still happens. We live in 2010, and women have the same rights like men. 

Glass ceiling occurs very often, and should be broken through.

Justine Fieuw

Public Opinion

The public opinion about giving all people equal employment opportunities can be divided in two groups: the people who follow the theory of Tougas and those who follow the survey of Fletcher and Chalmers.

Fletcher and Chalmers are the opposition and in their eyes everything revolves around one thing: qualifications. They say that people with more and higher qualifications should receive the employment opportunities.

The opposition’s theory can also be given by the term “reverse discrimination” which indicates that employment equity  can stand in the way of the non-beneficiaries to be successful in their job.

Tougas and his followers are leaning towards the goal of employment equity, which means equal opportunities for everybody, male or female. So it won’t be a surprise that they will take action to prevent such gender inequalities.

I prefer the theory of Tougas because I think everybody, male or female, rich or poor, unskilled or high qualified, should be treated the same way. After all, we are all human.

Pieter De Vriendt

Wage Equality

Men and women aren’t equally paid, although the gender pay gap is narrowing. Nowadays women earn 81 pct of what men make, compared to 62 pct in the late 1970s.

At the beginning of their career, men and women are evenly paid for the same job, but after a few years men are out-earning their female counterparts. According to a study the key reason for this disparity is motherhood. Research has shown that childless women are more likely to move to jobs with more responsibility than those who have children.

On the other hand, there are workers under the age of 29 who want jobs with more authority. They are men as well as women, who are called ‘millennials’. In comparison with 1992, where 80 pct of men and 72 pct of women wanted high positions, men’s ambitions have dropped and women’s have risen these days. (Moneywatch)

In my opinion, women shouldn’t be prejudiced when they are pregnant or have children because starting a family still is a decision made with your partner. Although, I can agree with the fact that women who have children aren’t eager to take risks, or move to jobs with more responsibility due to the children.

Nathalie De Smet

Male nurses and female police officers

Gender-role stereotyping occurs when people link a certain occupation to a gender. It's wrong to do so, but yet almost everybody does it unknowingly. When you think of a police officer or a fire marshall, you think of a muscular man who can conquer every obstacle he stumbles upon. When you think of a nurse, you think of a kind women with a soothing voice who takes gentle care of you.

To limit the effect of stereotyping in the process of hiring someone, 'employment equity intervention' was introduced – of which the effect was studied by Oppenheimer and Wiesner. Research shows us that when employment equity intervention was brough out, men were preferred for 'female jobs' (like nursing) and women were chosen for the 'male jobs' (police officer). However, women chose a female candidate for both jobs.

These results might tell us that gender-role stereotyping is much more common among women than among men. It might also suggest that we are more focused on fighting women stereotyping than general gender stereotyping.

Mike De Ridder

source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/k5r501005g564434/fulltext.pdf   (article from Minerva)