EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

Chapter 2 ! Career paths: recruitment ! promotion ! dismissal 115
Governors of UGent. Through this action plan the initial impetus was given to do
something about the loss of (female) talent. The aim was to get the support from the
faculties and university board for the start of a gender policy at UGent. After discussion
in the Board of Governors, the advices together with the action plan and the survey
results were published on the website of the Centre for Gender Studies. The complete
UGender report can be consulted and downloaded by all UGent staff members on this
website.
4.5. Conclusions and recommendations
4.5.1. Conclusions about the Survey UGender
The results clearly indicate a gender difference in the perception of whether or not
gender-related problems exist at Ghent University. Female pre-docs experience less
gender-related problems than other academic women. Since this group is at the bottom
of the academic ladder, most of them have not yet experienced promotion opportunities.
Women higher on the academic ladder claim to experience gender-related problems,
indicating that there is a promotion problem for women at the university. Moreover,
the most ‘negative’ answers to the gender statements were given by the group of
female post-docs, which is exactly the group in which a lot of women ‘disappear’ from
an academic career. Subsequently, taking action by organizing mentoring programmes
for female post-docs is a very important policy advice.
The survey results also show that a lot of women and men do not have a clear view on
promotion at UGent. An effect of the old boys’ networks and the glass ceiling is that
gender differences are primarily found within the highest academic ranks. Within the
ZAP a larger group of female professors answer that they are (were) not informed
about possible promotion conditions and criteria (32% of the female professors as
opposed to only 14% of the male professors). This gender difference is also found
within the higher grades of the ATP. Yet another result from the survey is that only a
third of the academic staff finds the appointment and promotion system clear. Again
gender differences are found mainly within the highest ranks: the largest group of female
professors thinks this system is ‘neither clear, nor unclear’; the largest group of
men thinks this system is fairly clear.
Making all the regulations available on the university’s website alone is not transparent
enough. At the same time the results of the promotion part show the significance of the
old boys’ network: in comparison to women, men think they are better informed about
promotion, and they report a clearer view on the career and promotion policy at
UGent as well as on their own promotion prospects.