Promoting Women in Post-Graduate Studies: Chances and Challenges of PhD Reforms in Germany

Abstract

Over the past two decades women have made remarkable inroads in German academia, as indicated by their fifty percent representation in graduate studies and rising shares on the postgraduate level. However, women remain underrepresented in tenured positions within the broader scientific community and top level positions in the university and research institute administrations. At the same time, a remarkable reorganization and rationalization of the university increasingly differentiates and to some extent even devalues academic careers. Against this background women would seem to be heading for an academic career of “winners among losers” (Zimmer et al. 2006). While it is indeed difficult to completely dismiss this view, the analysis in this chapter will question whether there is a coercive and one-dimensional interrelationship between a rising female presence and a restructuring of the academic field. Rather than focusing on women, I will draw attention to the way institutional frameworks and orientations shape academic careers, arguing that the role and structure of postgraduate education in Germany is crucial for both the level of gender equality and the quality and reputation of academic careers in times of internationalization and marketization of academia.