Women s Participation in Turkish Higher Education

Transcription

1 Women s Participation in Turkish Higher Education 8th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education Gülsün Saglamer Mine Tan Hulya Caglayan September 3-5, 2014, Vienna, 1

2 Contents I.Introduction to NETFA Project II.Comparative Analysis of Quantitative Data on Gender Equality in Higher Education with special reference to Turkey III.Assessment of Qualitative Data on Gender Equality in Higher Education: Online Questionnaires and In- Depth Interviews IV.Conclusions, Recommendations and Gap Analysis between Turkey and other European countries 2

3 INTRODUCTION: The background of the project: Istanbul Technical University took part in a project funded under the FP6 by EC between titled UNICAFE (Survey of University Career of Female Scientists at Life Sciences versus Technical Universities/Proposal Contract No: ) In this project it was observed that Turkey in terms of women academics set a unique example of high representation among the partner countries which included Hungary, Austria, Finland, Estonia and Italy. After completing UNICAFE and organizing its dissemination conference at ITU in 2008 we developed a resembling project proposal involving various universities in Turkey. 3

4 Aim and Scope of the Project Duration : August May 2013 Aim : enhancing the existing knowledge on the gender (dis)parity and career patterns of female academics in science, engineering andtechnologyin various universities inturkey. Research topics: ØGender differences in research careers Øcritical areas where women are underrepresented i.e leading university positions Øaccess to funding Øwork-life balance 4

5 Partner Universities and List of Participants 1) İstanbul Technical University (Coordinator) Established in 1773 and located in İstanbul. Prof. Dr. Gülsün Sağlamer, Prof. Dr. Mine G. Tan, Doç. Dr. Pelin Dursun, Dr. Özge A. Çelik, Dr. Nebile Korucu Gümüşoğlu, Hülya Çağlayan, Serra Cankur 2) Akdeniz University Established in 1982 and located in Antalya. Prof. Dr. Nurşen Adak, Doç.Dr. Gözde Yirmibeşoğlu, Meral Timurtürkan, Tuğce Tunca 3) Ankara University Established in 1946 and located in Ankara. Team members: Doç. Dr. Bedriye Poyraz, Seray Ulusoy 4) Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Established in 1992 and located in Çanakkale. Assoc. Prof. Selver Ö. Kahraman, Dr. Zahide A. Deniz, Berrin Gültay 5) Karadeniz Technical University Established in 1955 and located in Trabzon. Assoc. Prof. İlkay Özdemir, Prof. Dr. Ayşe Sağsöz, Assist. Prof. Muteber Erbay 6) Kocaeli University Established in 1976 and located in Kocaeli. Prof.Dr. Münevver Tekcan, Serpil Yazıcı Şahin, Yusuf Gürcan Şahin 7) Yıldız Technical University Established in 1911 and located in İstanbul. Dr. Ece Öztan, Dr. Setenay Nil Doğan 5

6 Consortium NETFA Project Dissemination Conference 7th June 2013, ITU 6

7 Methodology The same dataset was collected by each partner university. An online questionnaire was prepared to be filled in by the scientists (both female and male) of the partner universities, and the answers were put into SPSS. Each partner university carried out 16 interviews, 8 with men and 8 with women, at different career levels. Final synthesis report was edited by ITU and covered the results of the whole survey. 7

8 Comparative Analysis of Quantitative Data on Gender Equality in Higher Education with special reference to Turkey 8

9 GENDER EQUALITY in HIGHER EDUCATION COMPARISON OF TURKEY with EU AND OECD Proportions of Female with Higher Education Degree, All Areas Education Humanities and Art Health Sceinces Social Sceinces Services Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction 2000 Sceince and Technology Life Sciences Physical Sciences Mathematics and Statistics Computing Agriculture All Areas Education Humanities and Art Health Sceinces Social Sceinces Services Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction 2010 Sceince and Technology Life Sciences Physical Sciences Mathematics and Statistics Computing Agriculture Avarage Values for OECD countries Avarage Values for EU21 countries Turkey Avarage Values for OECD countries Avarage Values for EU21 countries Turkey *OECD (2012), Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing. p86 9

10 Observations For engineering, manufacturing /construction, science and technology, physics, mathematics and statistics, computer sciences, the values for Turkey are higher than the average values of EU 21. In science and technology, Turkey was far ahead of the OECD and EU21 in 2010, but by 2012 the gap between Turkey and the OECD and EU21 is decreased. In the last ten years, the gap for physics, engineering, manufacturing and construction closing down between Turkey and EU21. 10

11 Observations In the year 2000, while Turkey had an equal ratio with EU(21) and the OECD for the area of computer science, there hasbeen an improvement in the last ten years as the representation for computer science rose above EU(21) and OECD average values. Turkey has also made progress in the areas of education, humanities and art. During the same ten year period the ratios in Turkey were compatible with EU(21) and OECD averages in the areas of life sciences, health sciences and services. Between the years of 2000 and 2010, women s representation in Turkey experienced a decline in the area of agriculture. 11

12 Female PhD holders in EU (%) and Turkey, 2010 The proportion of female Ph D holders in Turkey approximates the proportions in the EU-27 and EU-25 countries EU-27: 46 % EU-25: 45 % Turkey: 45 %! * She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p.51

13 Distribution of Female Researchers with PhD Degrees Among the Disciplines in Europe *She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p.54. In Turkey, proportions of female researchers with a PhD degree in such fields as natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, health sciences, engineering, manufacturing and construction exceed those of their counterparts in EU-25 countries. 13

14 Distribution of Annual Growth Rate for PhD Degrees Among the Disciplines in EU-27, *She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p.59 The data related to the distribution of the annual growth rate for PhD degrees among the disciplines indicates that values are considerably high both for male and female researchers in Turkey. 14

15 Female academics at different levels of academia, EU 2010 * She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p.90!

16 Female academics at differentlevels of academia, EU 2010 *She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p.90 16

17 Observations At Grade A level (professors) EU -27 average: 20 % Highest ranking countries : Romania Lithuania Turkey The proportion of female professors (28%) in Turkey, with a population of 75 millions, becomes more noticeable at the European level when compared to Lithuania ve Romania, countries with small populations. At Grade B level (associate professors) EU -27 average : 37 % Turkey: 35 % Below the averages of EU -27 At Grade C level (assistant profesors ) : EU- 27 : 44 % Turkey:48 % Ahead of EU-27 average At Grade D level (research assistants) : EU- 27: 46 % Turkey: 48 % Ahead of EU-27 averages When the total proportions are examined, Turkey shows a good performance with 40%, approximating the average proportion in European countries.

18 Glass Ceiling Index, EU and Turkey (2004, 2010) With a value of 1.52 Turkey is the country with the lowest glass ceiling index at the European level *She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p96!

19 Proportion of Senior Level Female Administrators in Higher Education in EU27, 2010 Although there is a relatively high representation of women in the universities and the "glass ceiling" effect is very low when compared to most European countries, there are still very few women in the decision making bodies of the universites in Turkey. 9 Women rectors Women rectors 2012 (7%) in a total of 173 universities Total of 173 Universities Number of Female Vice Rectors: 18 Number of Female Deans: 96 She Figures 2012, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, p115 19

20 Summary of the Statistical Data Gathered by Partner Universities Students Academic Personnel Decision MakingBodies 20

21 Number of Students in Partner Universities, 2012 Female Male Total AKDU AU COMU İTU KTU KOU YTU

22 Proportion of Female Students at Undergraduate and Graduate Levels, 2012 Proportion of Undergradute Female Students Proportion of Female Graduate Students AKDÜ AÜ ÇOMÜ İTÜ KTÜ KOÜ YTÜ 0 AKDÜ AÜ ÇOMÜ İTÜ KTÜ KOÜ YTÜ ITU and YTU (engineering and natural sciences) 35% Comprehensive universities have up to 55% 22

23 Distribution of Female Students at Graduate Level, 2012 Proportion of Female MA Students AKDÜ AÜ ÇOMÜ İTÜ KTÜ KOÜ YTÜ Proportion of Female PhD Students AKDÜ AÜ ÇOMÜ İTÜ KTÜ KOÜ YTÜ

24 Some Observations A decrease in the proportions of female students at MA and PhD levels in all 7 universities was observed between Concentration of female students in certain disciplines in line with the cultural stereotypes points to the horizontal segregation in the universities under study. In 5 of the partner universities the greatest number of female students are registered in the faculties of social sciences and letters. In 3 universities, however, architecture faculties have the greatest number of female students. Similar tendencies have been observed in various EU countries. 24

25 Academic Staff, F M T %F F M T %F AKDU AU COMU İTU KTU KU YTU Total numbers of academic staff in Turkey, : Male: Female: Propotion of Female Academics: % 42 25

26 Proportion of female academic staff, 2012 The proportion of female professors varies between 39 % in AU and 10% in ÇOMU. Proportion of female academic staff by grade, 2012 A B C D AKDU AU COMU ITU KTU Proportions of Female Academic Staff in Turkey: Professor: %29 Assoc. Professor %33 Assist. Professor % 37 Research Assist. %49 KOU YTU

27 The Proportion of Female Academic Staff by Academic Grade and University The Proportion of Male Academic Staff by Grade and University A B C D AKDÜ AÜ İTÜ ÇOMÜ KOÜ KTÜ YTÜ A B C D AKDÜ AÜ ÇOMÜ İTÜ KTÜ KOÜ YTÜ The difference between the proportions of assistant professors and full professors is considered an important indicator signifying both the losses in the academic progress (leaky pipeline) and the vertical segregation. The proportion of female assistant professors and female full professors YTÜ : 9% ITU: 11% KOU: 16%. AU : 20% AKDU: 25% ÇOMU: 37 % KTU: 24% 27

28 Some Observations Corresponding proportions of female academics and female students were observed in different faculties of almost all universities. The faculties where the percentage of female academics is highest are; Architecture, Design, Medical Sciences, Sciences and Letters, Chemistry Metallurgy, Dentistry, Pharmaceutics, Medicine, Law and Management. Although the lowest percentage of female academics differs by universities, in 2 universities Faculty of Theology has the lowest participation of women. 28

29 Decision Making Bodies The high ratios of female academics in Turkey have not been reflected at the level of administration in the partner universities of this project, either. In spite of the positive developments in women s representation, a noticeable decrease in women s participation in decision making bodies have been observed. Contrary to EU countries such as Sweden where universities take measures towards increasing women s representationat decision making levels, Turkey has not taken any steps to improve the situation. In Sweden 45% of rectors whereas in Turkey only 7% are female 29

30 Female and Male Participation in Decision Making Levels,2012 Dean Vice Dean Department Head Rector Vice Rector F M T F (%) F M T F (%) F M T F (%) F M T F (%) F M T F (%) AKDU AU* COMU ITU KTU* KOU YTU Istanbul Technical University Woman Rector Women Vice Rec Women Vice Rec. Kocaeli University Woman Rector Woman Vice Rec. 30

31 The Large Picture in Turkey Proportion of Female Students at Undergraduate Level The numbers of total, newly registered and graduating female students have increased between Newly Registered Students Graduates * OSYM publications, Measuring, Selection and Placement Center, Ankara Turkey. 31

32 Proportion of Female Students at Graduate Level At the master s degree level however, the female proportions decrease among newly registered, total and graduating students. 25 Newly Registered Students Graduates For female PhD students, there is no decrease in terms of graduating students, but the proportions of new admissions and total PhD students decrease between the years of 2009 and Newly Registered Students Graduates This trend should be accepted as a warning for women s representation in the academic cadres of the future. * OSYM publications, Measuring, Selection and Placement Center, Ankara Turkey. 32

33 Proportion of Female Academics at Universities in Turkey total prof. assoc.prof. assist.prof. research assist * OSYM publications, Measuring, Selection and Placement Center, Ankara Turkey. There are increases at all levels but it is obvious that the speed of increase in the number of female academics seems to be slowing down. 33

34 Assessment of Qualitative Data on Gender Equality in Higher Education: Online Questionnaires and In-Depth Interviews 34

35 Üniversiteler Erkek Kadın Toplam N (%) N (%) N (%) Akdeniz University %-9.20 %-11 % Ankara University %-9.20 % % İstanbul Technical University %-16 % %16.50 Karadeniz Technical University % %-9.50 % Kocaeli University % % % Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University % %11.10 %11.70 Yıldız Technical University %12.39 %-8 %-9.80 TOTAL % %-100 %-100 INVALID DATA 89 %-6.40 FINAL TOTAL 1390 Online Questionnaires: The distribution of participants according to gender and universities 1390 academics took part in the online survey. 555 of the participants were male and 746 female. The age range varied between 23 and 79 with a mean of 39 and standard deviation of

36 Questionnaires covered Demographic characteristics Job promotions Work place satisfaction, working hours and career breaks Academic activity Research Participation in national and international researchprojects Success Opinions on promotionof gender equality

37 Interviews A total of 113 academicians (56 women and 57 men) were interviewed in the seven universities. 16 interviews, 8 with women and 8 with men, were conducted at each university. Interviews focused on Career path Current position and job satisfaction Access to resources Academic activities Work life balance Critical areas, i.e. discrimination Criteria of excellence 37

38 Main Observations on Qualitative Data Chi-square test was applied to the data varied significantly according to gender, age and status. Two main hypotheses were tested by applying an independent T test. The first hypothesis was that the opinions of the participants on gender equality and academic support varied according to gender. Some subtopics were found to be significant according to gender, such as gender exclusive grants, improved flexibility of working conditions, improved childcare facilities, formal mentoring schemes, gender quotas, greater transparency of internal workload and mobbing (workplace bullying). The second hypothesis was that the opinion of the participants on academic success does not vary according to gender. According to independent sample T-tests, some sub-topics are found to be significant. These are; persistence, diligence, good family ties, residence, a supportive work environment, participation in national/international projects, luck, excellent networks and a positive academic environment.

39 Career Path 46.2% of women and 36.2% of men pointed out the pressures and discrimination in academia as a major reason for rejection of requests for academic promotion and 14% of women complain of negative attitudes towards their sex as another main factor. Almost half of the interviewees (61 persons of the 113, 54%) experienced career breaks in the course of their careers. The most common causes of these breaks were problems concerning academic promotion, economic difficulties, lack of job security, political reasons, childbirth and military service. An important finding regarding career processes in relation to gender is that women experienced interruptions in their careers at higher rates and for longer periods. For women career interruptions were due mostly to pregnancy and early childcare while men faced problems of mandatory military service and foreign language inadequacy. 39

40 Career Path Once again women seemed to feel they could and would do better if only they had solved the dilemma of time created by the demands of home and office. As an obstacle to producing publications, academic or procedural requirements were considered much less pressing than this issue. Women experience interruptions in their careers more frequently and for longer periods. Number of men who find their working hours flexible is higher than the number of women. As can be observed from the data regarding home-work balance, women cannot make use of the flexibility provided by academic life since they have domestic responsibilities and responsibilities relating to their children. 40

41 Current Position and Job Satisfaction The workload of the majority of interviewees (87 persons out of 113, 77%) mainly consisted of teaching activities, followed by research and management. Although differences were observed between male and female academics as well as the universities they worked at, the majority of interviewees (74 persons out of 113, 65.5%) expressed satisfaction with their position. While the positive factors associated with work consisted of realising one s full potential, teaching, relations with students and colleagues, and respectability, negative factors were listed as job insecurity, low salaries, heavy teaching load and bureaucratic procedures. Lack of time was a common complaint among the academicians and all activities competing with academicians need to do research were cited as unwelcome distractions. In terms of job satisfaction, both women and men emphasized their dissatisfaction with financial resources and the lack of time. Just as women s double burden pressured the time needed for academic research it also limited the financially rewarding work activities outside of academia men could get engaged in. The main area of satisfaction is the «mentorship» for female and male academics. Men have a slightly better satisfaction than females. 41

42 Access to Resources The majority of interviewees (84 persons out of 113, 74%) expressed concerns regarding access to resources. The most frequently mentioned problems were financial support, equipment, lack of space or time, inadequate mentorship and lack of teamwork. There were, however, differences between the universities both in the amount and the access problems: For example KTU, COMU, YTU and AKDU have serious access problems Main funding resources are coming from EC, DPT (the State Planning Organization) and TUBITAK (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) or BAP (Scientific Research Projects Units) of universities 42

43 Access to Resources An interesting finding regarding career advancement is that the search for scholarships was an important strategy employed by women. The number of female PhD students who received scholarships exceeded the number of male PhD students who did so. Women also received longer scholarships than men. Number of applications as well as the degree of success in the projects and the amount of projects successfully completed were all greater for women than men One of the main National Research funding agencies is TUBITAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Under two different programmes; BIDEP and ARDEP success rates of female researchers slighlty higher than male researchers; BIDEP: female: 28% male:26%. ARDEP: female: 37.6 male: 35.6% (TUBITAK, Basaran 2008) 43

44 Academic Activities Male and female academics have similar rates in terms of being MA and PhD level advisors, numbers of publications and evaluation letters. The number of conference presentations of women is higher than men and this seems statistically significant in terms of gender. For women the main obstacles to publishing were heavy teaching loads, time problems, and administrative responsibilities. For men institutional barriers, foreign language problems, lengthy evaluation processes in refereed journals were more important as obstacles. Once again women seemed to feel they could and would do better if only they had solved the dilemma of time created by the demands of home and office. As an obstacle to producing publications, academic or procedural requirements were considered much less pressing than this issue. 44

45 Work - Life Balance Majority of interviewees (79 persons out of 113, 70%) were married and most (73) of those had children. Majority of those academics who were single were women. 14 of the interviewees were married to academicians of various levels. 56 of the 113 interviewees - mainly women - received support from family or paid help in order to manage their work-life balance. Many of the women academics who were dependent on family support for childcare expressed financial difficulties in obtaining paid help. In terms of the use of time, the rates of men who find their working hours flexible are higher than the rates of women. As can be observed from the data regarding work-life balance, women cannot makeuse of the flexibility provided by academia in the same ways as men since they have domestic responsibilities of family and housework. Majority of female interviewees thought that their domestic responsibilities increased when they had children. Even when their spouses were willing to share these burdens women remained the main caregivers. The work-life balance in such instances became more difficult to maintain. Some of the women had to stop work temporarily when they had children. 45

46 Work-Life Balance Women were also the main caregivers for elderly and sick in the family. Although the majority of male interviewees reported sharing domestic responsibilities their activities were confined to shopping, repair work, payment of bills or driving children to and from school. Cleaning, cooking and childcare were thought to belong to the wife s domain. The particular emotion concerning family responsibilities was a determining factor for women, rather than men. The in-depth interviews suggest that the feeling of neglecting family andhousecare kept onbeing a source of anxiety and unhappiness for women. The narratives of women show that a certain manifestation of loss was associated with women s responsibilities towards children and household. A female academic who has been working hard to gain her associate professorship stated that she has been neglecting her daughter since she was 6 months old, and that she has serious difficulties in balancing her responsibilities of motherhood and the necessities of the academia.

47 Work-Life Balance The tensions between home and work are increased during PhD and assistant professorship processes since these are the periods of intense academic obligations as well as biological reproduction and motherhood for many young women candidates. Women, who had to work very hard during and after their PhD studies later preferred to devote whatever time left from their academic obligations to look after their families and children rather than getting involved in managerial positions. Some of the female interviewees looked forward to professorship as the position offer them more freedom in order to arrange their academic activities together with their private life.

48 Discrimination 58 of the 113 interviewed academics professed to have encountered some sort of discrimination in the course of their career. Several others had witnessed other people being discriminated against because of their gender, political opinion or because of institutional policies. More than half (33 out of 56, 59%) of the female interviewees had been subject to discrimination because of their sex, age, political opinion or because of institutional policies. The majority (22 out of 33, 66.7%) of these women faced discrimination because of their sex or age. The number of male academics who experienced discrimination (24 out of 57, 42%) was less than the women in the same category. The reasons they expressed for the discrimination were also different. The majority of them (n:15) said it was because of their attitude to institutional policies and practices, while the others stated ethnic or religious background and political opinion as causes of discrimination. 48

49 Discrimination The most frequently mentioned examples of discrimination against women were ounequal representation in leadership positions in teamwork, oallocation of economically rewarding functions/positions/duties to men, oassignment of heavier work loads or teaching hours to women, ocomments on the private life of pregnant women (ie remarks like Don t plan any more babies, You have slowed down since you had a baby ) or unmarried women. Both women and men mentioned discrimination based on being a member of certain groups or cliques in the university. Such memberships, it was said, provided or barred opportunities of various sorts in recruitment, promotion, awards, etc. 49

50 Criteria of Excellence The largest group of respondents (36 persons out of 113, 32%) pointed to hard work and throughness as criteria of scientific excellence. Idealism, social responsibility, objectivity, research ethics, critical thinking and pedagogy were among the other criteria mentioned. While for women hard work and thoroughness, objectivity, research ethics and pedagogy were more important, men emphasised decisiveness, sociability, critical thinking and scepticism. For men the most important factor for success in projects is a positive infrastructure while for women, cooperation with other academicians is the key factor. These differences were found tobe statistically significant. Women sought more peer cooperation and support in dealing with tensions between academic life and household responsibilities, which occur due to lack of time, an intensive working environment and career breaks. 50

51 How to improve gender equality? Female and male academics draw attention to such solutions as o gender specific benefits, o flexible work regulations, o gender quotas, o fair distribution of funds for academic research on a gender basis, o greater transparency o special units to deal with violence, harassment, mobbing and sexism within universities. 51

52 Conclusions, Recommendations and Gap Analysis between Turkey and other European Countries 52

53 Conclusions and Contradictions Turkey as an accession country has set a special example in the EU as it has a very high women s representation, especially in STEM in higher education.she is one of the leading countries in Europe in terms of proportion of women among full professors and has the lowest glass ceiling effect in academia. She has however, a very limited number of women at decision making levels in higher education and research. Although Turkey was far ahead of the OECD and EU21 in 2010 in terms of women with a higher education degree, by 2012 the gap between Turkey and the OECD and EU21 has decreased. With regard to the annual growth rate for PhD degrees among the disciplines, values are considerably high both for male and female researchers in Turkey. The decrease in the female student proportions at M.A. level as well as among the new admissions and total PhD students between the years of 2009 and 2012 however, should be accepted as a warning for women s representation in the academic cadres of the future. The relatively favourable representation of women in academia, contrasts with the very low employment rates of women in the labour force (26%) and political representation of women at national (9%) level as well as the scarcity of women at the managerial positions of the universities.

54 What are some of the reasons for having such high female representation rates in academia for Turkey? Historical-culturaland demographicfactors: The reforms broughtaboutin the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century were concerned with the public status of women and education as the main instrument for promoting it. With the establishment of the Republic in 1923, Kemal Ataturk guaranteed women equal rights in the spheres of education and civil service. In a sense women were the showcase of the revolution. Deficiency of well educated male population due to long lasting wars in the last quarter of Ottoman empire was also an important factor. The longlasting demands of the women s movement at the turn of the 20ieth centuryhad already laid a fertile ground for the advances. The enrolment of women especially in newly opened universities of the Republic was encouraged. In the early republican era, spreading of secularism with the support of the political milieu and universities formed a convenient context for teaching in the university for young women university graduates. Policies implemented in the early republic also encouraged women to be present in male dominated areas such as science, engineering, technology and mathematics.the impact of the Russian revolution was observed in these policies. 54

55 The first generation of the Turkish women educated in this era recalled the efforts of the newly built Republic in this endeavour with gratitude and pride. They were socialized to believe that women were not inferior to men and could be successful in any field they chose to study. The latter generations of academic women also expressed no real limitations or perceived discrimination on account of their gender. Even the support that middle class families gave to their girls and women for a career in higher education could thus beinterpreted asa gendered choice. For a woman to be a teacher was/is widely appreciated by society at large which may be explained by the historical background of women s education in the 19th century together with the secular ideology and the forward looking policies of the republic. It was only with the feminist movements of the 1970ies that women started arguing their double burden and the domestic responsibilities. Even then the majority of academic women adhered to the ideal of being model academicians as well as perfect mothers and wives. Men s share of the housework remained as uncontested asbefore. 55

56 Main Challenges and Strategies Our project revealed not only some of the challenges that academic women face but also the main strategies employed to deal with them: Career interruptions due to pregnancy and child care Traditional gender roles/norms allocate domestic responsibilities of care giving/housekeeping mainly to women. BUT: female kin and extended-family structure helps to shorten maternity leaves. Paid child care at home although unaffordable for young researchers and in need of much improvement and is relatively less expensive than in West. Many of the universities provide on-campus nurseries as well as primary and secondary schools and housing, which helps women academics to organise themselves for their careers. How is work-home balance organized in your country? Arethere similaritieswithturkey?

57 Job Satisfaction Financial issues and lack of time are the most frequently mentioned difficulties. In the university organisation men tend to grab more prestigious and lucrative posts and assignments while women academics are led to less prestigious positions with more working loads. Are similar problems observed in your countries? Discrimination One of the most frequently mentioned examples of discrimination against women is unequal representation in leadership positions in teamwork. Reasons may differ from country to country but the patriarchal culture preventing women from contending for leadership positions while endorsing their roles as mothers and caregivers, political and economic structure not prioritizing public facilities to ease the work-home balance and the conflicting demands on women s everyday life are among the mutual problems almost everywhere. What would be your experiences & observations? 57

58 How to improve Gender Equality? Recommendations to be presented to university administrations: Tracking and the transparency of gender data in higher education regarding all aspects of academic life Establishment of administrative mechanisms/gender units to accomplish gender equality at universities Improvement of work-life balance issues at universities Establishment of efficient mechanisms for the prevention of mobbing and sexual harassment Providing transparency in committees and commissions especially in terms of academic hiring and promotion. Improvement of mentorship and supervision mechanisms especially in career progression processes. What would some of your suggestions be? 58

59 References OECD. 2012, Educationata Glance 2012: OECDIndicators, OECDPublishing. OSYM Publications, Measuring, Selection and Placement Center, Ankara Turkey. Sağlamer, G Women in higher Education and Research. 56. Jahrestagung der Kanzlerinnen und Kanzler der Universitäten Deutschlands. 19 September Nürnberg, Germany. Sağlamer, G., Özsoy, A., Tantekin, E., B., Aksoy M., Dursun, P., Uzer, E., Tan, M. (Danışman) Report of Istanbul Technical University, UNICAFE-Survey of the University Career of Female Scientists at Life Sciences versus Technical Universities, EU, fp6 Project. Saglamer, G., Tan, M., Caglayan H. (Eds). (2013). Women s Participation in Turkish Higher Education. Istanbul, Cenkler Matbaacılık. She Figures, Gender in Research and Innovation, Statistics and Indicators, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union,

60 Thank You