Gender Stereotypes lecture 2014.pdfGender Stereotypes – How do they look like and what we can do?...

Gender Stereotypes – How do they look like and what we can do? Professor Renate Schubert, Gender Delegate of ETH’s President

26. September 2014 Stelle für Chancengleichheit von Mann und Frau der ETH Zürich 1

About numbers: Leaky Pipeline at ETH Zurich

!  Female students: 30%

!  Female doctoral students: 30%

!  Female research associates: 25%

!  Female assistant professors: 30%

!  Female tenured professors: 9%


About numbers: IARU Universities


About stereotypes - Definition:

Stereotype: a judgement of a person which you make based on this person being a member of a specific group and hence being characterized by the group’s average traits

" Quick assessments, but individuals might differ from the average


About stereotypes – How to cope with them?

!  Not all stereotypes are wrong

!  You cannot and should not eliminate all stereotypes

!  BUT: you should be very well aware of stereotypes and act accordingly

!  This requires that you are familiar with the variety of gender stereotypes (concerning women AND men)


Examples I:

!  Women attribute their success to luck and effort; men are overconfident with respect to their capabilities

!  Women and men knowing about the gender stereotypes might perform badly due to the stereotype threat (example: math tests)

!  Culture matters: Women are not interested in engineering or math issues # but there are countries in which this is not observed

Sources: see handouts


Examples II:

!  Context matters: Women, on average, prefer to work in an interdisciplinary way, are interested in and talented for a broad spectrum of tasks and love to do «useful» things

!  Women are less interested in competition and care for the general well-being of teams !  Female leaders are focusing on strengths that partly differ

from men’s (communication, self-marketing, networking)


Examples III:

!  Women often have less sqm in laboratories, women’s nominations for prizes are rare, women’s number of publications is on average smaller than men’s

!  Women tend to send in their manuscript only if they are «perfect» and to apply only in case of a perfect match

!  Women’s application dossiers are evaluated more critically than men’s


What we can do – I Awareness

!  Accept that there are different capabilities in a team; don’t be trapped by male overconfidence

!  Get rid of stereotype threats by framing the match between tasks and persons in a positive way

!  Be aware that there are cultural contexts in which it is «normal» to have many women in math and engineering areas


What we can do – II Networking

!  Shape tasks in a way that allows for relating different findings. Point out WHY a specific research is important. Rely on and foster networking

!  Motivate and coach younger female researchers to present

their research at conferences, workshops etc.


What we can do – III Mentoring

!  Encourage and support women with respect to self-marketing as well as men with respect to communication

!  Pay attention that women and men are treated equally with respect to financial resources and space

and with respect to nominations for prizes

!  Focus more on the impact of publications. Encourage women to send in manuscript even if they are not «180%» perfect


What YOU can do – IV Applications

!  Be aware of gender biases in judging women’s and men’s qualifications in reference letters; we all bring them in, irrespective of whether we are male or female

!  Active searching based on the help of women you know in the field


Resumé

1.  Inclusion improves research

2.  Numbers and culture matter, including family friendly conditions

3.  Gender action plans (GAPs) for the various teams are «a must» (to identify goals and to control for success; including mentoring schemes and awareness activities)

4.  Equal Office gives support


Four Areas of Action within GAP

1.  Careers and career development in academia

2.  Integration of gender-specific aspects in research and teaching

3.  Supporting the balancing of work/studies and family matters

4.  Prevention and prosecution of sexual harassment and gender-related discrimination


Careers within Academia

!  For prospective students: study weeks, trial weeks, holiday courses, national future day, etc.

!  For students and doctoral students: mentoring programmes (Femtec), career programmes (Fix-the-Leaky-Pipeline), info-events, excellence scholarships

!  Alumni: better integration into academia via role models from Alumni/Alumnae


Career within Academia

!  For postdocs, senior assistants, senior scientists: career programmes (FLP), info-events, re-integration opportunities

!  For assistant professors: mentoring within the departments, transparency of tenure processes

!  For full professors: equal opportunities in appointment procedures, Dual-Career coachings, membership in important ETH committees


Gender Specific Aspects in Research & Teaching

!  Adapt individual lectures as well as curricula to women’s and men’s interests; start with applications

!  Seminars, workshops, courses concerning appropriate teaching and examination styles for women and men

!  Gender as criterion for Innovedum proposals

!  Gender as criterion for evaluations of departments and research projects


Balancing of Work/Studies and Family Matters

Continuation and extension of existing measures:

!  Part-time employment, Golden Tricycle, maternity and paternity leave, info-events, mother’s and father’s lunches

!  Salaries during maternity leave are given to the respective units

!  Childcare (kihz foundation), Family Campus and financial aid for toddlers in daycare


Prevention and Prosecution of Sexual Harassment and Gender Related Discrimination !  Zero-tolerance policy at ETH Zurich

!  If individual counselling is needed: Human Resources, Equal Office, Ombudspersons,

Legal Office

!  Internal regulation of responsibilities according to the severity of the case

!  Regularly held surveys to estimate the prevalence and severity of harassment and discrimination issues


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