Assessing and Positioning Academic
Achievement Relative to Opportunity
Beverley Hill, Judith Secker & Fay Davidson
The University of Western Australia
7th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education Bergen, August 2012
AR2O
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Is not about special consideration or diluting merit
•
A framework for challenging the norm of (more than) full time hours &
an uninterrupted, linear path
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A framework for acknowledging what has and can be achieved (relative
to opportunity)
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Acknowledges diverse career histories, personal circumstances and
working arrangements
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Offering capacity to view and compare different profiles more equitably
The University of Western Australia 2
Context
• Group of 8 Universities, Equity sub-committee discussion document
(2010)
• Excellence in Research Assessment (ERA 2010)
• Australian Research Council – R.O.P.E. (2010)
(Research Opportunity & Performance Evidence)
• DIISR – Meeting Australia’s Research Workforce Needs:
Impact of career
breaks (2011)
• Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) ‘Career Interruptions’ (2011)
• International Trends: UK, R.A.E (2008) R.E.F (2014)
The University of Western Australia 3
Research
•
Women disproportionately concentrated in disciplines / institutions with
lower levels of research funding
•
(Barrett & Barrett)
Women more likely than men to have a ‘non traditional’ career path (‘leaking
pipeline’ / ‘labyrinth’)
(Diezmann & Grieshaber)
•
Fail to participate in national competitive grant & fellowship processes (Bell)
•
The focus on specifically-defined & measured research success serves to
reward stars not teams (de Vries & Todd)
•
Individual achievement is a myth – success achieved through personal
contacts, friendships and co-operative work with key players
(Bagilhole & Goode)
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Death by Metrics* – what counts?
• Working fractionally & non linearly in systems designed for full time
employees
• Primacy of track record in a world of ‘unequal opportunities and
unequal constraints’
(Bailyn)
• Success to the successful
• Impact of flexibility and non linearity on assessment
• Flawed metrics (Symonds)
*O’Brien & Hapgood
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Study of Non-Linear Careers
Methodology:
• 14 female & 14 male academic interviewees, self selected
(44 interviews in total)
• Semi structured conversational interviews
• Slight gender / age skew (fewer young males)
• Presented to Vice-Chancellor’s Equity & Diversity Committee
• what about the slower, but linear career?
(de Vries & Todd)
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Indications of Non-Linearity
Pauses, Diversions and Hijacks
Pause
Cause
Childcare
Diversion
Women
Men
Women
Men
Women
10
2
1
Family issues
4
2
3
Service role
1
2
8
2
1
Study
7
Hijack
1
Migration
3
Pause
Diversion
1
Health
2
Spouse career
1
Travelling
4
Termination
Career change
1
None
3
5
TOTAL
16
2
Men
2
1
Hijack
1
1
2
1
1
23
2
2
2
9
14
3
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Findings – Cumulative Disadvantage
(Valian)
• Career inhibiting factors more complex for women (& some younger
males) (COACHE)
• Most men reported assistance from a significant male
• Career support
– flexibility available….but
– wider career discussions not occurring
• Time for research – sense of mental space and energy needed
• Struggling in silence
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Inhibitors and Enablers
Inhibitors:
• Workload models
• Teaching loads
• Lack of timely career discussions / interventions
• Role models of success irrelevant / unappealing
Enablers:
• Collaboration & assistance
• Career ‘kick starts’
• Career Support
 Leadership Development for Women program (LDW)
 Informal & formal recognition of ‘non-linearity’ & slower progression
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The Way Forward?
• How many baby’s is a paper worth? (Klocker & Drozdzewski)
• Concessions on publication output (UK, REF)
• Stopping the tenure clock (USA)
• Assessing on ‘potential’
• Timely career focussed interventions
• Workload models
•
Allocate transparently including work not strongly linked to promotion
•
Teaching intensive roles
•
Adoption of more subtle ‘merit and time based career assessments’
• Focus on ‘Advantage & Opportunity’
‘changing the game from within’ (Bailyn)
The University of Western Australia 10
Bibliography
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Bagilhole B & Goode J (2001) The Contradiction of the Myth of Individual Merit, and the Reality of a Patriarchal Support
System in Academic Careers, The European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 8 (2): 161-180.
Bailyn L (2003) Academic Careers and Gender Equity: Lessons Learned from MIT, Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 10,
no. 2.
Barrett L & Barrett P (2011) Women and academic workloads: career slow lane or Cul-de-Sac? Higher Education 61: 141155.
Bell S et al (2009) Women in Science in Australia: Maximising Productivity, Diversity and Innovation, FASTS, Canberra.
de Vries J & Todd P (2012) Optimising Faculty Performance: Maximising the potential of academic women, The Faculty of
Engineering, Computing and Maths, The University of Western Australia.
Diezmann C & Grieshaber S (2009) Understanding the Achievements and Aspirations of New Women Professors, Centre for
Learning Innovation, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.
Helms R (2010) New Challenges, New Priorities: The Experiences of Generation X Faculty.
A Study for the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Klocker N & Drozdzewski D (2012) Career progress relative to opportunity: how many papers is a baby ‘worth’?
Environment and Planning A, vol. 44.
O’Brien KR & Hapgood KP (2012) The academic jungle: ecosystem modelling reveals why women are driven out of
research. Oikos, Vol. 121, Issue 7, pp. 999–1004.
Rafferty L, Dalton B, Hill B, Saris I, Atkinson-Barrett L, Maynard L (2010) Consideration of Merit Relative to Opportunity in
Employment Related Decisions. Discussion Paper, Group of Eight HR Directors Staff Equity Sub Committee. Available at
http://www.equity.uwa.edu.au/page/148380
Symonds MRE, Gemmell NJ, Braisher TL, Gorringe KL, Elgar MA (2006) Gender Differences in Publication Output: Towards
an Unbiased Metric of Research Performance. PLoS ONE 1(1):e127. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000127
Valian V (1998) Why So Slow: The Advancement of Women. The MIT Press, Cambridge.
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