WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION (WHEM) NETWORK
at
6th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON GENDER EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

I recently had the great privilege of attending the 6th European Conference on Gender Equity in Higher Education that was held at  Stockholm University, Sweden (05-08 August 2009). This conference, held every 2 years, attracts individuals and groups working towards gender equity in universities from all over the world.

Since 2006 I have belonged to a research group called the WHEM (Women in Higher Education) Network. Led by Dr. Kate White of Australia we are conducting an international, comparative study of gender equity in universities across eight (previously nine) countries. This unfunded, virtual network communicates regularly via email and has managed to gather, analyse and compare data for the past three years. To date most of the group has met three times (Portugal, Spain and Sweden) but this was my first opportunity to meet the women from the network. In addition to Kate, the network includes Prof. Barbara Bagilhole (UK), Prof. Pat O’Connor (Ireland), Prof. Jenny Neale (New Zealand); Prof. Teresa Carvalho and Prof. Maria de Lourdes Machado (Portugal), Prof. Ozlem Ozkanli (Turkey) and Prof. Anita Goransson (Sweden).  We combined the conference with our research meeting to discuss further research and the progress on our book due for release late in 2010.

The conference, held in the beautiful city of Stockholm on the modern university campus was superbly organised and treated delegates to a taste of the best that Sweden has to offer. I attended stimulating plenary sessions, interactive seminars and engaging networking events held in the Golden Room of the City Hall (where Nobel prizes are awarded) and the famous Vasa Maritime Museum.

Keynote presentations were provided by speakers from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Turkey and England. In a combined afternoon session on 06 August, our research group presented four papers that drew on comparisons and similarities across the eight countries in respect of the career paths to senior university management, institutional cultures, power structures, gender relations and the competencies required in senior university management today. Conference papers will be available online by the end of October.

In addition to the many presentations and workshops that reported on the dismal statistics in respect of GE in HE all over the world, it was heartening to hear of successful initiatives that definitely are making a difference to the lives of individual women in HE. These initiatives typically take the form of support networks, the formal appointment of gender equity officers and university specific development initiatives. Of particular interest to me were papers reporting on three networks for women scientists in Norway, a government funded project to replace 200 retiring professors in Germany with suitable women professors and a university in Brisbane, Australia that appears to take GE seriously at the highest levels. Clearly the HERS-SA network and annual ACADEMY are examples of best international practice in respect of initiatives to advance the status of women in academia.

On the final Saturday morning, discussion during the plenary sessions turned to “what next?” After listening to a number of contributions, I offered our South African experience of the Declaration made in 2008 after our HE conference in Cape Town (conference details and Declaration ) to HESA (Higher Education South Africa), the CHE (Council on Higher Education) and the Department of Education that called on these institutions to respond with an action plan. Although I was sorry that I could not share any positive developments from our declaration, I am pleased to report that a majority vote in the plenary session on Saturday morning moved to make a similar declaration to the European Commission. The South African text was used a as a basis document to draft the declaration that will be presented later in September 2009.

I returned from the conference refreshed and encouraged that the ongoing challenge of assuming our rightful place as equal partners in the leadership of universities is a just and worthy pursuit. I remain very grateful to the Tercentary Bank of Sweden for making my trip possible and Prof. Anita Goranssen in particular, who applied for the grant on behalf of the members of WHEM.

Report compiled by:
Dr. Sarah Riordan
Board: HERS-SA and South African researcher for WHEM
13 August 2009.