h e t g n i l l e v d l e fi e g l n i y pla Madeleine Dwyer critically examines the state of female academics in psychology
G
IVEN the less than encouraging statistics of women gaining top positions in the field of psychology compared to the burgeoning number of enthusiastic female undergraduates, it may be time to review the reasons why this disparity remains. In trying to get to grips with this complex issue, I asked for the views of some of the female academics in our own department.
demics, despite the fact that females make up on average over 80% of undergraduates. This pattern can be seen in universities all over the country, with an average of 22% female professors compared to the 45% of female academics. Why is the attrition of females into the higher ranks so high? Dr Kazanina posits that it could be due to the constraints of balancing work and maternity at once:
“Discussion of women’s issues usually focuses on certain narrow time intervals such as pregnancy or the period immediately post maternity. In reality women’s challenges span well beyond those narrow time intervals. Children get sick, dinners need to be ready on time, et cetera. More often than not, these issues are up to the woman to deal with. It seems that academia has Dr Nina Kazanina not yet found a fair way of dealing with these noted that this glardiscrepancies and incorporating it with the mering inequality can it-based system that academia is and should be be seen here in the based upon.” University of Bristol’s
School of Experimental Psychology, with The University of Bristol thankfully has initiatives only approximately for supporting female academics with children20% female aca- making it possible to combine family and science. 6 | PSYCHE | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 2