Background

The share of women in top academic positions remains well below the threshold for gender balance in the Nordic countries [1]. This is the case even after a long history of progressive national legislation, universal systems for work–family reconciliation, laws that require employers to take proactive measures to improve the career opportunities of both women and men and comprehensive regulation directed towards the universities [2]. In this paper, we ask what Nordic higher education institutions have done at the institutional level to address gender inequalities in academic careers. Which measures have universities used to increase gender equality, and to what extent are the measures effective in increasing the share of women in top academic positions? This is the first study in the Nordic context that tries to assess which equality measures work, using quantitative methods.

Methods

Based on theories on actor-oriented and structure-oriented measures, we investigated the efficacy of gender equality policy measures in 37 universities in Sweden, Norway and Finland, implemented between 1995 and 2018 based on interviews with universities’ HR staff and equality officers. The study combines survey data and register data to assess the impact of institutional gender equality policies on the gender composition of academics in grade A positions. By combining unique survey data on universities’ equality policies and register data on universities’ teaching and research staff, we assess the impact of the policies on the gender composition of academics in grade A positions (e.g. professor positions). We distinguish between career-enhancing measures offered for women, training and awareness-raising measures, organisational responsibility measures and preferential treatment measures.

Results

Overall, we find that the use of equality measures has increased over time, but that equality measures seem to contribute relatively little to the overall share of women in grade A positions between 1995 and 2020. Using regression models with fixed effects and lagged information on the introduction of the various types of measures across the 37 institutions, we find that only the structural measures stand out as significantly associated with an increase in the share of women in grade A positions. In particular, having an equality officer or office and providing hiring support for recruitment of women seem to be positively associated with an increase in the share of women in grade A over time.

References

1.European Commission. SHE figures 2018. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; 2019 Mar.2.Lipinsky A. Gender equality policies in public research. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; 2014.