The health crisis plunges the research sector into gender inequality

The health crisis makes it possible to highlight the under-representation of women in the academic world.

In the best academic journals in the world, the signatures of the articles are very often masculine. But where are the women? The site The Conversation was interested in this absence and he recalls quite telling figures. For example, in the UK 45% of academics are women and only a quarter of professors are women. In the Russell Group of Universities, 20% of vice-chancellor positions (equivalent to CEO positions) are held by women, reports Forbes.

On the side of France, 44% of lecturers are women, but 24% are university professors, we can read in a file from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.

However, it would not be fair not to mention some work to reduce these inequalities and feminize the teaching profession. But the health crisis would, according to The Conversation, makes "lower the vigilance", reviving an "old pattern".

Last April, Dr. Elizabeth Hannon, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, noticed that the number of articles written by women had dropped dramatically. Unlike male productions.

"A negligible number of newspaper article submissions by women in the past month ", she posted on Twitter. “I have never seen anything like it.” Https://www.aufeminin.com/ “I was surprised at the nerve that I seem to have touched,” she says. "I have now heard many stories from women about abandoned projects, collaborations that they felt unable to pursue, etc. This is extremely worrying, especially for philosophy, which already has so much work to do on it. gender equality in its ranks, ”she adds.

Containment didn't help

For the editor-in-chief, this prospect is explained by the difficulty of childcare services, as well as the care of older family members and the increase in tasks such as cooking and cleaning, bed -on in The Guardian. And what to say with confinement, the famous border between professional and private world has become blurred.

Stanford University did a study that shows that 20% of researchers have a stay-at-home spouse, compared to just 5% of researchers. They thus have more time to devote to their research activity.

always in The GuardianDr Anneli Jefferson, professor of philosophy at Cardiff University, who homeschool her two boys, nine and twelve, says research is the first thing to suffer when time is short. "Research is really important, but it's not urgent."
The latter adds that anyone with a family has been slowed down by the lockdown, "but women are probably at a greater disadvantage."

Another factor: emotional work. In the article "Dancing Backwards in High Heels: Female Professors Experience More Work Demands and Special Favor Requests, Particularly From Academically Entitled Students", authors El-Alayli, Hansen-Brown and Ceynar found that female professors in this crisis health workers, were much more likely to be called upon to support their students on "special requests" than men.

Same diploma, but not the same hierarchical position

Research by Dr Georgina Santos and her colleagues at Cardiff University involved more than 2,000 academics at 24 leading universities across the UK. The results revealed that male academics achieved higher levels than their female counterparts. When comparing people with the same or similar qualifications and diplomas and similar family situations, the only factor influencing differences in university status is gender: men occupying higher positions than women, relays Forbes.

Note also the absence of women regarding research on Covid-19. The majority of men have positioned themselves on this health crisis. You just have to see the names that emerge from each news item on the subject.

Marlène Schiappa pushes a big rant on parity at LREM

Video by Juliette Le Peillet