Slow Going to Equality at the Top

Statistics compare median earnings to gender distribution at the University faculties. It shows a tendency for generally higher earnings at the faculties with the largest portion of men. The numbers are collected from LU 2014-01-08. They cover all professors and also include senior professors and visiting professors. Adjunct professors not paid by LU are not included. The numbers also include people on leave, which will affect the outcome. In some cases, a person has been on leave for several years, which is why that person’s pay has not been revised. All calculations are based on earnings equivalent of full time employment.

The recruitment of female professors at Lund University is going backwards. During 2014, only 32 percent of all newly recruited professors were women, a step back from previous years. Now, four million SEK will turn the trend around.

The gender distribution at the University is, seen in general, relatively balanced. Women have for some time been in the majority among students, while there are somewhat more men among employees. At closer look, however, there is great disparity regarding at what positions women and men are employed. Of all administrative staff, 70 percent are women, while 76 percent of all professors are men.

Reason to question efforts
Despite several years of speaking about the importance of more female professors, development has been slow. In 2012, the portion of women among the newly recruited professors was 34 percent, and in 2013, it was at 36 percent. The final number 2014 was 32 percent. That it would be a gloomy year for equality statistics among professors was something that the University Board warned about already last summer, when only 17 percent of the professors recruited during spring had been women. The University Board also found that there was reason to question if the efforts of the last few years have been effective. This not least since the portion of lectors, the form of employment usually preceding a professorship, has been at a steady increase and today lies at around 40 percent women both at Lund University and in national statistics. The problem should therefore not be that there are too few women, but depends on other explanations.

Four millions to recruitment
Torbjörn von Schantz, Vice-Chancellor at Lund University, says that he is concerned about the slow pace of development.
“At the moment, there are too few female professors. It’s a huge loss of competence when not more women continue to a professor level. I think that we need to create a better working environment and become more welcoming,” he says.

In order to break this trend, the University has now decided to put four million SEK from this year’s budget directly towards active measures of recruiting female professors. This is double the amount of equality funding that has previously come from a central level. How the money will be used is, however, still unclear.
“What I can say is that this is an organisation where money opens your eyes for something. That also helps equality work to have an effect,” Torbjörn von Schantz says.

Call for a needs analysis
However, Lund University Student Unions, Lus, are not particularly impressed by the amount of money.
“Of course it’s good, but seen to the turnover of the entire University, it’s very little. Large companies usually allot about one percent towards equality efforts, and the University does not even come close to that,” says Sebastian Persson, Vice President at Lund University Student Unions.
Sebastian Persson is also of the opinion that there is need for a thorough needs analysis, rather than churning out money.

“The University is very good at counting, but very little is built on discussions about structures, which we find to be a great explanation for inequality. What is needed is an analysis at all faculties on the current situation.”

Text: Annika Skogar
Photo: Camilla Göth
Graphics: Filip Rydén
Translation: Carl-William Ersgård