Gender Inequalities in British and German Universities: A Quantitative Study

Welche Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in Gleichstellungsfragen zwischen deutschen und britischen Hochschulen aus der Sicht des wissenschaftlichen Personals bestehen, belegt der Beitrag von Rosalind Pritchard auf der Basis einer Befragung von deutschen und britischen Hochschulangehörigen unterschiedlicher Hierarchieebenen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass auch im britischen Hochschulsystem, welches geregelte Karrierepfade über Tenure Tracks vorsieht, vergleichsweise wenige Frauen Spitzenpositionen innehaben, und dass Benachteiligungen, unter anderem durch stärkere familiäre Belastungen und Kinder, nach wie vor empfunden werden. (HoF/Text übernommen). The aim of this paper was to explore perceived similarities and differences between male and female academics in the higher education systems of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the United Kingdom (UK). It was based upon questionnaire responses from 387 respondents of whom 38 per cent were male and 62 per cent female. The contribution of female academics was much valued in the workplace, and very few employees had experienced gross forms of bullying and harassment at work. However, women were self-deprecating about their ability to network and strategies for career advancement. Men and women colleagues had mutually positive perceptions of each other in several important respects, and there was a certain convergence in their accepted norms and values which could indicate an erosion of binary gender structures and hierarchies in academe. A large majority believed that more needs to be done to remedy inequalities arising from maternity leave and child bearing and that their universities were still gendered organisations with few women at the top. (HoF/text adopted)