Gender Segregation in the Academic Staff of Universities in Great Britain, 1980/81–1993/94

Abstract

This paper analyses gender segregation within the academic staff of universities in Great Britain over the period 1980/81–1993/94. It finds that the level of gender segregation increased, as measured by the Karmel–Maclachlan index, IP. Using a decomposition procedure, it is possible to identify the composition effect, which is the contribution of a change in the gender ratio of individual academic levels to the overall change in the level of segregation. This was found to have decreased over the 12 years, indicating that each grade of appointment became less segregated. However, the decline in segregation at each level of academic employment was six times greater in US institutes of higher education. The small extent of improvement in Great Britain focuses attention on the perceived lack of effectiveness of equal employment opportunity policy and programmes within the university sector identified by both the Commission for Racial Equality and the Hansard Society.