Chapter Two
2.4 Man-centred Universities - with some women in them!
climate's expression and impact on women academics, administrators and students, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, is described and analysed. (Sandler and Hall,
1984,1986, and Sandler, 1992, 1993,1995).
At the other extreme women represent 6 percent of academics in biology, mathematics and physical science and an even smaller 3 percent of those in engineering. Most of the people in the research only group are employed on contracts, which means that their salaries come from bodies outside the universities such as research councils. Their job security only extends for the duration of their contract, usually as short as six months. For some a succession of contracts constitutes a career. Contract researchers are often excluded from other academic employee benefits such as maternity leave and are not always well integrated into the department.
Canada provides an interesting contrast. In neither Britain nor Canada is there a network of privately financed universities as in the United States. Women make up 18 percent of Canadian academics (similar to the British situation (Statistics Canada, 1991). There is also a tendency for women to be disproportionately located in contractually limited appointments and part-time positions (Drakich et aI, 1990). But once on the 'tenure track', women's chances of advancing to middle levels are greater than those of their counterparts in Britain. Slightly over a third of each sex holds the middle rank of associate professor.
The difference comes at the full professorial rank that is held by about 13 percent of the women and 40 percent of the men (Statistics Canada, 1991).
In Canada there are policies at both federal and provincial level that have as their aim the reduction of gender (and other) inequality (Breslauer and Gordon, 1990; Canadian Association of University Teachers, 1991). The Federal Contractors Program requires employees of more than 100 people who wish to receive federal contracts for $200,000 or over to put into place plans to increase equity for women, visible minorities, aboriginal people and the disabled. Many universities have joined this programme. Canadian universities also benefit from a higher level of feminist activism than British ones, reflecting the greater prominence of the women's movement generally, and there is evidence that such efforts have been influential (Drakich et ai, 1991).
The use of competitive promotion procedure in British universities, together with minimal commitment from the government to redressing gender inequities, may produce the contrast with the Canadian situation. Unlike the American practice of allowing individuals to compete against a standard to attain higher ranks, judged by one's peers, the typical British university makes its candidates for internal promotion (senior lectureships
and readerships) compete against one another for a restricted number of promotions, usually judged by senior personnel (professors and deans). The academic profession is ageing and there are large numbers at the top of the 'lecturer scale' (reached at about age 40) competing for promotion. The system discourages geographical mobility except at the professorial level and is open to micro-political manoeuvring as professors struggle to get 'their' candidate promoted.
The individuals making these judgements are almost all men. Few will be familiar with research on gender, thus placing women doing research and scholarship in that area at a possible disadvantage. Because women are concentrated in relatively few subject fields, they also in effect compete against one another to the extent that promotions are 'shared out' among departments. It is also possible that when promotions are restricted and many candidates are of equal merit, male preference will operate, however unconsciously. A further ironic consequence of the small numbers of women in the system is that opportunities for organising to improve matters are thereby limited. Women academics are too scattered to provide a critical mass, nor do they hold many positions of influence.
Finally, the economic situation has been perilous for some time in Britain. Universities have been experiencing cuts and retrenchment since the early 1980s (Reynolds, 1990). It would not seem the best of times to push for feminist reform. But there are always contradictions and points of intervention. The institution is reproducing the divisions of the labour market while at the same time providing the means for challenge and critique.
2.5 Casualization
In many countries casualization of academic labour is giving increasing cause for concern, particularly to women academics. In the United Kingdom, for example, Joanna de Groot has suggested that the position of women academics is worsening:
Not only are women academics more likely to be at the lower end of pay scales and/or job grades, they are also more likely to experience job insecurity ... [a] study of the rapid growth of part-time academic jobs showed that this growth also involved 'feminisation', with women making up nearly 59% of part-time pro-rate staff in 1994, compared with 38% in 1983.
It is also significant in this context to note that women form a larger
percentage of contract researchers [mostly fixed-term employees] than they do of staff on academic contracts.1
In South Africa the extent of the "casualization" problem is not clear, as the national Department of Education gathers information only on academic staff on two-year contracts and above.