Humanities cutbacks hit women
More and more humanities fields are being discontinued at Norwegian universities. Many of them are popular with female students. Gerd Bjørhovde, chair of the KIF Committee, is worried about this trend.
More and more humanities fields are being discontinued at Norwegian universities. Many of them are popular with female students. Gerd Bjørhovde, chair of the KIF Committee, is worried about this trend.
For generations it was usually the men who became doctors, psychologists and dentists. Now it is different. Today there are so few men applying to professional studies in medicine, psychology and dentistry that the University of Oslo is considering giving them preferential treatment.
The recipient of the Gender Equality Award for 2011 is the University of Tromsø, which according to the jury is one of the key players in the field of gender equality. “It is very gratifying to have been selected for this award,” says Rector Jarle Aarbakke.
Earmarked funding for gender equality measures will no longer be available when the new Centres of Excellence are established.
Marcela Linkóva of the National Contact Centre for Women and Science in the Czech Republic is thrilled about Talent at stake, the new publication from the KIF Committee. She is not alone.
By promoting gender equality in research, we enhance the quality and relevance of research, according to Arvid Hallén, Director General of the Research Council of Norway.
The Research Council of Norway is planning a large-scale initiative to increase the recruitment of women to high-level positions and research management.
By changing the name to the Committee for Gender Balance in Research, the KIF Committee has received a stricter mandate for its work. “This sends a signal that gender equality involves more than equal rights,” says Mari Teigen, Research Director at the Institute for Social Research (ISF).
A lack of professional leadership is an obstacle to achieving gender equality in academia, according to Curt Rice, Vice Rector at the University of Tromsø. He is calling for stronger leadership and new ways of working. His first priority is to ensure that more women reach the top.
Talent at stake. Changing the culture of research – gender-sensitive leadership is designed to inspire everyone who wants to do something to increase diversity and promote greater gender balance within the research sector.
In order to achieve gender equality, we must change the structures in academia. This requires a systematic effort in which the top-level administration at each institution takes active part, according to Linda Marie Rustad, Senior Adviser for the Committee for Gender Balance in Research (KIF).
“It is more important for the universities to become adept at marketing the engineering sciences to women rather than designing measures such as gender points to increase their numbers,” says Svandis Benediktsdottir, Gender Equality Adviser at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
In March, the Norwegian Nurses Organisation voiced its support for giving gender points to men who want to become nurses. Now the Ministry of Education and Research has given its response: There are no plans at this time to introduce such a measure.
Gender will no longer count when students are admitted to Swedish universities and university colleges. Sweden’s Minister for Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz says that preferential treatment based on gender has hit talented female students especially hard.