Abstract
UK Higher Education has recently entered uncharted waters – this includes changes to the fee structures in England and ever increasing pressure to perform to measurables such as Key Information Sets, Destinations of Leavers in Higher Education data and a plethora of Key Performance Indicators. In this article, we highlight key findings from recent research regarding the status of women in the profession – with particular emphasis upon evidence that may suggest a gender divide in terms of research and teaching. We then go on to explore primary data from a number of sources to explore whether male and female academics in the UK have different priorities, and question to what extent recent reforms will exacerbate a ‘glass ceiling’ or ‘leaking pipeline’ and further challenge the diversity of the profession.
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Notes
The Global Gender Index employs a different methodology to HESA, though the HESA figure of 35 per cent for women academics in Politics and International Relations is just 3.5 per cent lower than the Index figure internationally for social sciences.
UK universities cluster into interest groups. University Alliance unites twenty-four HEIs in the United Kingdom that combine Science and Technology with a focus on delivering for the professions, business and the community. Other groups include, The Russell Group – twenty-four HEIs committed to world-leading teaching and research, and a collection of universities operating under the cluster Million+.
We acknowledge that this data is not as accurate as employment-level data but nevertheless argue that they are an important source of information regarding professional activity and engagement – particularly given preceding comments regarding networks.
The organisation conducted an online survey with a 20 per cent response rate (433 respondents out of a notional, 2,128 UK Departmental staff – though we have to acknowledge some slippage in accuracy of research population). Respondents appear ‘top heavy’ in terms of status/income compared with the UK academic community as a whole and we do not make any claims regarding ‘representativeness’.
The PSA UK has benefitted from the leadership of two women in its time. First was Professor Elizabeth Meehan (1993–1995) and then Professor Vicky Randall (2008–2011) – the latter championing the glaring lack of diversity in the profession (the most senior staff being overwhelmingly male and pale).
Of the 134 members of Universities UK, 19 have female executive heads (14 per cent). None are political scientists by training.
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briggs, j., harrison, l. the status of women in uk political science. Eur Polit Sci 14, 105–115 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2015.7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2015.7