“In Irish universities 74% of senior academic positions are held by men (HEA, 2019a). This gives an implicit message to women students and early career women that they have no future in these organisations. It also has the immediate practical implication that there are few women in key decision-making fora in universities …” (more)
[Pat O’Connor, PublicPolicy.ie, 4 March]
“When Trinity wrote in its still-unpublished strategic plan that it aimed to have achieved a silver Athena SWAN award by 2025 – two years too late for crucial research funding deadlines – eyebrows must have been raised among those casting eyes over the document. Ireland’s universities have for years underwhelmed on Athena SWAN …” (more)
[University Times, 2 March]
“The purpose of the 20 posts approved under the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative created by Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor was to improve the representation of women in senior positions in the Irish higher educational system …” (more)
[Pat O’Connor, Irish Times, 18 February]
“Sinn Féin MLA Dr Caoimhe Archibald has said we must break down barriers and challenge misconceptions which limit women’s participation in STEM subjects and careers. Speaking on International Day of Women and Girls in Science the East Derry MLA said: ‘The theme for this year is “Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth” focusing on the empowerment of women and girls, promoting the achievement of full and equal access to careers in science …'” (more)
[Sinn Féin, 11 February]
“Third-level Ireland is agog about the launch of a scheme of new women-only professorships. I find it terribly worrying to be so alone in thinking that this is a terrible idea. In the past, when all internal mechanisms had failed, I thought that writing open letters to the newspaper of record was a good way of making sure that minority views got a hearing …” (more)
[Mary Gallagher, In a Strange Land, 9 January]
“Women economists are under-represented across the discipline, from university departments to academic conferences and publishing houses. This column focuses on the editorial process and asks whether the referees and editors of four leading economics journals made gender-neutral publishing decisions between 2003 and 2013 …” (more)
[David Card, Stefano DellaVigna, Patricia Funk and Nagore Iriberri, Vox, 8 January]
“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has welcomed confirmation by Minister for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell-O’Connor, TD, that 20 additional professorial positions will be created this year for women to assist gender balance in higher education institutions …” (more)
[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 7 January]
“Sir, – The significant reduction in the differences in both employment and unemployment rates between the two communities in Northern Ireland over the past 30 years, as recorded in the annual Labour Force Survey Religion Report …” (more)
[Gerry Wilson, Irish Times, 7 January]
“Yvonne Galligan, TU Dublin Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, speaks to Philip about the introduction of women-only professorships …” (mp3)
[RTÉ – Drivetime, 6 January]
“Radical changes in management culture at Irish universities are required to secure equal access by women to senior academic posts, according to a leading Irish expert in gender equality. Professor Pat O’Connor has welcomed the establishment of women-only professorships as a ‘necessary start’, but says that fundamental action is required for a ‘culture change’ …” (more)
[Lorna Siggins, Independent, 6 January]
“This week saw a promising development in an eternal battle, with government approval for the creation of 20 women-only professorships in colleges across the country. In Trinity, the move, part of the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative, will fund two new chair professorships for women – as part of a project attractive enough to prod Trinity into belatedly appointing an associate vice-provost for equality, diversity and inclusion in order to meet the funding criteria …” (more)
[University Times, 5 January]
Abstract: Using a Feminist Institutional perspective, this paper suggests that the explanation for the slow pace of change in the gender profile of the professoriate lies in the gender awareness of managerial leadership. In Irish universities, women now constitute 51 per cent of the lecturers, but only 24 per cent of those at full professorial level and have, on average, a three times lesser ‘chance’ than men of accessing a professorship. The context is one where power is concentrated at (male) presidential level and where managerial leadership is seen as driving change. Using an ex-post facto research design, involving a re-analysis of qualitative interview data collected from those at presidential, vice-presidential and dean level 10 years ago, it differentiates between four categories of gender awareness: denial of the existence or relevance of gender (mainly men); stereotypical awareness of gender (mainly men); awareness of gender inequality (both men and women) and gender competence (both men and women). Only a minority were in the latter category, which is seen as most likely to be associated with change in the professorial gender profile. Finally, the question of whether the under-representation of women in the professoriate across the EU could be similarly explained is raised.
Pat O’Connor, Creating gendered change in Irish higher education: is managerial leadership up to the task?, Irish Educational Studies. Received 18 Feb 2019, Accepted 29 Aug 2019, Published online: 8 Dec 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2019.1697951.
“The creation of female-only professorships in Irish third-level institutions is ‘not discriminating against men’, the Minister of State for Higher Education has said. 45 female-only additional professor positions were announced by Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor in November 2018 …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 5 January]
“Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Minister responsible for higher education, tells us about women-only professorships and responds to calls for greater state support for third-level colleges here …” (mp3)
[RTÉ – This Week, 5 January]
“I was caught on the hop this morning by the formal announcement that twenty new professorships for women have been created in Ireland. I hadn’t expected this announcement to come so quickly. There is a piece in the Irish Times about it here. I blogged about this scheme here when it was announced, a little over a year ago …” (more)
[In the Dark, 3 January]
“Third-level colleges have received approval for 20 women-only professorships aimed at tackling gender inequality in higher education. The appointments are in areas where there is ‘clear evidence’ of significant under-representation of women, such as physics, computer science and engineering …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 3 February]
“Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD Minister of State with special responsibility for Higher Education today (3rd January 2020) announced the approval of 20 posts at professorial-level in higher education. This announcement is being made under the Minister’s Senior Academic Leadership Initiative the goal of which is to accelerate progress in achieving gender balance at the senior academic level in Higher Education Institutions …” (more)
[Department of Education and Skills, 3 January]
“Concerns over attracting girls into Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects have been voiced over many years. The vastness and sometimes intangible nature of Stem can act as a deterrent to some who lack a direct connection to the field …” (more)
[Judith Harford, Irish Times, 2 January]
“Men are more likely than women to frame their research findings as ‘novel’, ‘unique’, ‘promising’ or otherwise positively, according to a new analysis of more than six million articles in the life sciences and academic medicine. The difference was most pronounced in the highest-impact journals in the study and associated with higher citation counts. So the finding has implications for women’s career progression and gender equity overall …” (more)
[Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 17 December]
“The gender pay gap among third-level graduates widens with time, with men earning an average €14 more per week than women within a year of graduating and €130 more per week after eight years, according to new research from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) …” (more)
[Emer Moreau, University Times, 16 December]
