Abstract
Gender balance (both sexes being represented by at least 40%) in academia has long been a goal. In this study, we present a model for the inert changes in the proportion of female full professors and associate professors at four research universities in Norway and stipulate future scenarios. Data from 1977 to 2019 were fitted to a sigmoid model. The results indicate that for all full professors, gender balance will be reached sometimes in the mid-2030s. Gender balance among all associate professors is already achieved. However, when the data is split into fields of research and development (fields of R&D), pronounced differences were seen. The results indicate that we will not achieve gender balance among full professors within humanities and the arts, while the proportion of female professors within Natural sciences and Engineering and technology cannot be properly modeled. Contrary, gender balance among associate professors will be achieved within all fields of R&D apart from engineering and technology, while natural sciences cannot be modeled properly. Essentially this model exercise illustrates what will happen with the gender balance in academia if no interventions are made. If so, we might not achieve gender balance in all fields of science.
Highlights
Women are consistently underrepresented in the top tiers of the academic world (European Commission DG Research, 2012; European Commission DG Research and Innovation, 2016)
Gender imbalance has long been regarded as a problem, and achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls has been included as the fifth of the 17 UN sustainable development goals adopted in 2015 by more than 150 world leaders (United Nations, 2017)
We observe that overall gender balance for associate professors in four Norwegian universities is already achieved as of 2019, whereas the overall proportion of female full professors is quite far from the goal of 0.4
Summary
Women are consistently underrepresented in the top tiers of the academic world (European Commission DG Research, 2012; European Commission DG Research and Innovation, 2016). Gender imbalance has long been regarded as a problem, and achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls has been included as the fifth of the 17 UN sustainable development goals adopted in 2015 by more than 150 world leaders (United Nations, 2017). In Norway, the difference in employment rate between men and women is low (69.3% vs 64.9%; Statistics Norway, 2017) and the male/female ratio in the Norwegian government has been close to 50/50 in most years since 1986. As a typical western country there has been more female than male students at Norwegian universities and colleges since the mid-1980s (Rees, 2001; Steinkellner, 2010). Similar to other western countries, the gender balance in academic positions is Gender Balance in Academia far from equal (Rees, 2001; European Commission DG Research, 2012). In 2011, less than one out of four Norwegian full professors were women (Vabø et al, 2012), rising to 30% at the time of this investigation
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