Women in Academia in Greece: Recent trends and social aspects Dr Laura Alipranti-Maratou National Centre for Social Research, EKKE

Women in the labour market During last decades, the position of women in the labour market has been a matter of discussion and of extensive research within the academics and in the framework of European Commission as regards the general goal for equality and equal opportunities between men and women.

Labour market: inequalities still persist There is evidence that gender inequalities have not been resolved. Research data show significant gender inequalities in terms of pay, promotion and career development. Gender imbalances and invisible barriers will not go away on their own.

Gender and academic sector Since the 90ties the issue on gender and scientific-academic field has begun to be a topic of paramount importance. Available data showed that in almost all European countries women were under-represented mainly in the fields of science, engineering and technology. This situation creates an important dichotomy in career outcomes for men and women.

The main questions are why, where and when women disappear. All available data showed that gender discrimination in scientific field (universitie’s staff and scientific research) has a long tradition and lasting effects. Cultural concepts and strereotypes concerning the role of men and women play an important role. Structural barriers, embedded in regulations, created by the still predominantly- male hierarchies.

Why… A set of implicit, or no conscious concepts about sex differences plays a central role in shaping men’s and women’s professional lives. Both men and women hold the same gender schemas and begin acquiring them in early childhood. The most important consequence for professional life is that men are consistently overrated, while women are underrated.

Why…. The different gender schemas in a person’s self definition and the conceptions and attitudes of men and women towards any professional activity, help to explain the difficulties women face at work. Difficulties and problems persist in coping with the conflicting and demanding duties of academic work and family responsibilities. Although women have changed; men behaviors in the labor market and at home haven’t really altered, which means that women need to prioritize their needs.

I.Women in Academia-European trends The compilation of statistics elaborated by the European Commission provided with evidence on the existence of horizontal and vertical segregation in science among European countries. “Scissor’s diagram” : women students are in the majority in higher education, but for registered students at PhD level, the male/female proportions are reversed and from that level women’s presentation is continuously declining and an under-representation of women in higher grades and leading positions is seen. → Improvement in proportions over recent years is shown..

Women in Academia - “Scissor’s diagram”

Female academics are more often in Grades C and D and considerably less in Grades A (Full professors) and B (Associate Professors).

II. Women in Academia in Greece Graph 1. Academic staff by gender

The female participation in the Academia gets rising and women constitute the one third of the total academic personnel in recent period. The higher the position in the academic hierarchy the lower the percentage of women. Data on the distribution of academic personnel from a research which was carried out by the University of Ioannina confirm these general trends.

Graph 2. Composition of academic staff by gender in 21 Greek Higher Education Institutions, Graph 3. Distribution of academics in Greek Universities by gender and rank

Academic personnel by rank The distribution of academic personnel by rank presents significant differentiations. In the highest position of the hierarchy, i.e., “Professor”, women hold only 15% (359), whereas men hold the 85% of these positions. In the following rank (Associate Professors) the proportion women is almost the double. There is more equilibrium between men and women in the two lower ranks.

Gendered Differentiation in the Scientific Fields: humanities and social sciences vs. science, engineering and technology Graph 4. Philosophy-Humanities Faculties: Gender, accessibility and distribution in the hierarchy

Humanities and social sciences Women academics have a particularly strong presence in the teaching and research staff of the Humanities Faculties but still inequalities in high ranks are observed. Men outnumber women in the highest position of hierarchy (Professors).

Departments of Basic Education for Kindergarten Teachers Graph 5. Pedagogical Departments

Women academics in the Faculties of Science, Engineering and Technology: the stability of the minority Graph 6. Science Faculties: Gender, accessibility and distribution in the hierarchy posts,

Graph 7: Faculties of Engineering and Technology: Gender, and rank

Faculties of Science, Engineering and Technology Male domination in the teaching staff in the Faculties of Science. Low proportion of women in every rank with the exception of the fourth rank (Lecturers). Faculties of Engineering and Technology: there are 294 (19%) women academics, while 1256 (81%) are men. In all ranks the total number of women is much lower than that of men.

Public Research Institutes Data collected within a study (undertaken by EKKE) indicated that female researchers in public research institutions are a minority (34.7%). They are assembled in low rank positions (ranks C and D) compared to men who have higher percentages in all ranks and mainly in high rank positions (ranks A and B). They hold low responsibility and leading positions in the administration.

Women researchers Women researchers are promoted at a slower pace in comparison to men, especially in case they have family responsibilities, given that there is no satisfactory state care sufficient services. Family responsabilities seem to be a serious problem for a scientific career in Greece.

Conclusions The participation of men and women in academic field is characterised by a series of contradictory facts and tendencies and sex-based differentiations and inequalities continue to be a significant reality. Empirical evidence emphasize that slow steps and little progress have been achieved regarding female presence in the academic-scientific fields. The participation of women academics differs by discipline and female participation is the highest in Humanities and the lowest in Engineering and Technology Sciences.

Final remarks Barriers to scientific career development of academics and researchers are mainly the cultural and educational stereotypes regarding gender roles. The most important social aspects are the social construction of identity, social conceptions and attitudes that influence and determine girls’ and boys’ educational and professional choices and later on career paths.