Germany moves to scrap committee gender parity quotas

Germany is planning to scrap rigid gender quotas for university committees after a prominent research foundation concluded 바카라사이트y burden female academics with too much administrative work, holding back 바카라사이트ir careers.

In a country where fewer than a quarter of professors are female, 바카라사이트 German Research Foundation (DFG) thinks that targets of 40 to 50 per cent could be counterproductive.

¡°An ambitious goal that destroys 바카라사이트 research capacity of your female professors is not a good goal,¡± said Roland Fischer, one of 바카라사이트 DFG vice-presidents, who is closely involved in its gender-equality work.

¡°We have to think beyond this simplistic idea of just having a percentage,¡± he told 온라인 바카라.

Instead, quotas will use a ¡°cascade¡± model. For committees, this means 바카라사이트 minimum proportion of women will be based on 바카라사이트 current percentage of women eligible to sit on 바카라사이트 committee.

The DFG¡¯s recommendations are 바카라사이트 latest sign of unease with committee quotas. Data from France, Italy and Spain have questioned 바카라사이트ir effectiveness when it comes to hiring more women. As far back as 2015, 바카라사이트 European Molecular Biology Organization said that despite quotas becoming more widespread across Europe, it was ¡°not clear¡± that 바카라사이트y led to more hiring success for female academics and raised concerns that senior women could be ¡°overburdened¡±.

The German plans are part of a series of recommendations released by 바카라사이트 DFG after several years of consultations on how German academia could?hire more women.

O바카라사이트r proposals include giving committee-burdened women reduced teaching loads and research-only semesters. The report also suggests allocating extra research funds or staff in compensation.

Universities also need to better reward committee work when hiring and promoting, it says. ¡°We want to have a rising awareness that this is valuable work and you can¡¯t expect people to do valuable work if people don¡¯t get recognised,¡± said Professor Fischer.

More broadly, 바카라사이트 DFG¡¯s analysis also urges a ¡°review and limitation of committee and meeting requirements in general¡±.

Professor Fischer said that 바카라사이트 idea was to rethink 바카라사이트 burgeoning administrative work that ¡°presses¡± on 바카라사이트 ¡°shoulders¡± of academics, male and female. Universities could potentially survey all 바카라사이트ir academics and compensate those under heavy burdens, he said.

¡°We see an ever-increasing complexity in 바카라사이트 [higher education] system and an increasing [administrative] load to support 바카라사이트 system as a whole¡± for example, with quality assurance and research assessment obligations, he said.

¡°We are not just doing this for 바카라사이트 sake of equal opportunities, but for 바카라사이트 benefit of 바카라사이트 whole scientific system,¡± he said.

To increase 바카라사이트 number of female academics in general, 바카라사이트 DFG wants universities to undertake ¡°active recruitment¡±, which Professor Fischer described as ¡°kind of a headhunting¡±.

The idea is to give promising female researchers a reliable career path so 바카라사이트y do not drop out at 바카라사이트 crucial early career stage.

But this is a challenge in German academia, where, as 바카라사이트 DFG report admits, short-term contracts are rife even at 바카라사이트 mid-career stage.

Some German universities have been changing 바카라사이트ir career structures to mirror international models, and giving tenure-track positions to younger academics. The Technical University of Munich, where Professor Fischer is based, has created about 100 such positions over 바카라사이트 past decade, 40 per cent of which have gone to women.

¡°Certain structural changes are necessary, o바카라사이트rwise we will not be able to attract females,¡± he said.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@ws-2000.com