To advance equality for women, use the evidence

What needs to be done to achieve gender equality in the workplace? That’s the question Michelle Ryan asks in this article.

Despite a strong desire to promote equity and numerous initiatives by universities, research institutes and funding bodies, the most recent data from the European Commission shows that women represent around half of doctoral graduates and only a quarter of high-level academics and people in positions of responsibility.

Our institutions fall into several pitfalls, including:

– an excessive emphasis on numbers that does not take into account the experiences and influence that awards and positions confer. Do those awarded to women bring the same visibility, recognition and resources as those awarded to men? Do women receive the same quality of promotions as men?

– it is not women who need fixing, but entrenched systems of inequality: women’s confidence and ambition are not inherently inferior to men’s, but are being eroded by experiences in unequal professional cultures.

– women are not intrinsically risk averse; women operate in systems that reward men for risk-taking, but punish women for the same behavior.

– the risk of excessive optimism when men and women systematically overestimate the representation of women; and therefore do not see the need to support gender equality initiatives.

Good intentions are not enough to change things, nor are simple counts, training programs or unwarranted optimistic opinions.

Change requires sustained investment, appropriate incentives and evidence-based interventions.