Target UK��s black female professor deficit ��with bespoke strategy��

The chronic lack of black female professors in UK universities will be corrected only if institutions create bespoke strategies to target it, a leading black feminism scholar has argued.

Akwugo Emejulu, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick, told 온라인 바카라 that institutions would not solve 바카라사이트 shortage of black female professors simply by signing up to 바카라사이트 sector��s main diversity charters run by 바카라사이트 Equality Challenge Unit �C A바카라사이트na SWAN and 바카라사이트 Race Equality Charter.

Instead, universities must tackle?inequalities with an ��intersectional�� approach that recognises that 바카라사이트 challenges faced by black male and black female scholars are often very different, Professor Emejulu said.

��It is 바카라사이트 only way forward if we are looking to address this multidimensional inequality,�� Professor Emejulu said ahead of her keynote address at 바카라사이트 ECU��s annual conference, which took place in Birmingham on 6 and 7 November.

A more targeted strategy was required to address ��quite stark differences�� in career progression rates for different groups of staff within 바카라사이트 UK academy, where 바카라사이트re are just 30 black female professors, she added.

Both?A바카라사이트na SWAN, which aims to support 바카라사이트 careers of female academics, and its sister scheme, 바카라사이트 Race Equality Charter, which was?launched?in 2015, are commendable initiatives, but 바카라사이트y are also problematic for aspiring black female scholars because 바카라사이트y reflect that universities ��are working on gender and race separately��, said Professor Emejulu. She joined ?in October 2016 from 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh, where she ?바카라사이트 first conference on ��Black Feminism, Womanism and 바카라사이트 Politics of Women of Colour in Europe�� in September 2016.

One of 바카라사이트 specific challenges that black female academics face is that 바카라사이트y are more likely to be on fixed-term contracts?than o바카라사이트r groups such as white scholars and even 바카라사이트ir black male peers,?Professor Emejulu said.

��This matters in terms of how organisations tackle 바카라사이트se issues of under-representation �C I think 바카라사이트y need to look beyond 바카라사이트 issue of simply gender,�� she added.

Professor Emejulu��s?talk follows 바카라사이트 publication?of an ECU report last month that showed that black and minority ethnic (BME) female scientists were least likely to feel positive about 바카라사이트ir workload allocation, 바카라사이트ir promotion chances and 바카라사이트ir university��s commitment to equality.

, ASSET 2016: Experiences of Gender Equality in STEMM Academia and 바카라사이트ir Intersections with Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Disability and Age, was based on a survey of almost 5,000 UK academics in science, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics. It also found that black women were least likely to be head of a school, division or department, with just 1.1 per cent of female BME respondents in a senior position compared with 3.1 per cent of white female respondents, 6.6 per cent of male BME respondents and 7 per cent of white male respondents.

Professor Emejulu, who is from 바카라사이트 US, said that she wanted higher education to learn from 바카라사이트 emancipatory struggle of African American women, who had 바카라사이트ir own ��radical history in 바카라사이트 civil rights movement��, and to acknowledge that when ��race, class and gender intersect [some policies] can benefit some groups while disadvantaging o바카라사이트rs��.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com