EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

204 Equality Guide
from a bird perspective or sitting down while men are shown from a frog perspective
and when in action. There are more women in publicity and more men in the media.
Research shows only 32% of the people on television are women. The older women
get, the less you see them on television. When looking at children’s programmes, the
number of men and women on screen is the same. As for Flemish newsreaders, only
one in five is a woman, while the European average is 1 in 3.
4.1.1.3. Representation at universities
It is important to create a positive image of the research profession and especially of
female researchers. However, that often goes wrong. If women are put in the picture, it
is generally because of being a woman and not because of their scientific merits. University
brochures to recruit students for example, contain more women but when talking
about professors, they generally show a man. This results in an incorrect image of
reality and hinders the recruitment of good female candidates for a scientific career.
4.1.1.4. Male/female proportions at universities
Compared to other company sectors, universities are far behind when it comes to the
proportion of women in management. The number of women in the higher positions
stagnates whereas the number of men increases. A report of Nico Steegmans 241 shows
that women represent only 15% of the senior academic staff (ZAP) at Flemish universities.
That is a very small percentage, especially when one realizes that the majority of
students are women.
4.1.1.5. Obstacles women face on their way to the top
According to the participants of the session these are:
! the combination of private life and work;
! the higher you climb the ladder, the more you need to adapt to the dominating
male standards;
! a strongly male-oriented working culture;
! evaluation commissions consist almost exclusively of men;
! expectation patterns with respect to women (e.g. ‘women are less ambitious’);
! women spend more time on other tasks (e.g. education);
! women are less visible;
! women underestimate their qualities; they have lower self-image than their male
colleagues do.
241 Steegmans, N. (2004). ‘Vrouwen in het hoger onderwijs: feiten en percepties’. In: Spee, S., & eds.,
Wachten op gelijke kansen. Antwerpen: Garant, p. 183-200.