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IMPROVING THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN THE PHILOSOPHY PROFESSION – PROJECT SUMMARY

Background: Despite a number of initiatives within Universities to increase the participation of academic women, Philosophy in Australasia is one discipline where women’s participation in continuing positions continues to lag significantly behind men’s. Other disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences appear to have been more successful in attracting and retaining women in academic positions, and in promoting women into senior positions. Given that it appears that for several years now more than half of the students enrolled in undergraduate philosophy subjects in most Universities are women, the explanation of the disparities in men’s and women’s participation cannot be put down to lack of interest in philosophy per se.

According to the latest Australasian Association of Philosophy data collection, in 2004 the total number (FTE) of philosophers employed in continuing positions in Australia was 200.13 of whom women comprise 23%. If we focus on staff employed in teaching and research (that is excluding research only staff) by level the disparities by seniority and are clear. Women comprise 22.87% of all Teaching and Research continuing positions in Philosophy, compared to 39% of all academic positions being held by women across the sector (AVCC data).

The AAP has collected data for a number of years on staffing, student enrolments, and publication outputs of Australasian philosophy departments (schools or programs). It has become clear that the proportion of women employed in continuing positions and the proportion of women above level B remains low. A number of explanations based on anecdotal evidence have been offered. However, there has not been any careful examination of available evidence that might support or discredit any of these suggestions. Given that women undergraduates make up at least 50% of all undergraduate philosophy students in Australia and that a number of institutions have taken steps to try to overcome gender inequities, the factors contributing to women’s low participation in employment in the discipline are worthy of further investigation in order to develop targeted strategies to enhance women’s participation in the profession.

PROJECT AIMS

This project has three main aims:

  1. Data collection and analysis of the Australasian data to find out the key stages in women’s education or careers in those cases where they either leave Philosophy or stall in their careers.
  2. Exploration of strategies undertaken in comparable countries to enhance women’s participation at all levels in Philosophy.
  3. Preparing a report based on the collected information that could be used to frame future strategies for enhancing women’s participation in all levels of academic Philosophy.

The Council of the Australasian Association of Philosophy has offered formal support for this project in particular:

  1. The establishment of a Committee of Senior Academics Addressing the Status of Women in Philosophy (6 members: 2 men; 4 women) who will have responsibility for overseeing a project to investigate the likely causes of disproportionate gender participation in Australasian philosophy. That Committee will have an initial term of three years and will have responsibility for reporting to Council and the Association annually on progress on this project.
  2. Activities of the Committee of Senior Academics in Philosophy Addressing the Status of Women in Philosophy to:
    1. use the data that is collected by the AAP in this project,
    2. collect data from Australasian philosophy programs, including data on the number of women/ men enrolled in Honours, and HDR degrees, HDR completion rates (To this end, that Council provide a letter of support to Australasian Heads of Philosophy supporting this project)
    3. approach the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee for support in this project, including seeking data from the AVCC and its Colloquium of Senior Women Executives in Higher Education on cross-disciplinary comparators, identifying strategies for improving women’s employment participation, supporting travel for senior women’s philosophers with relevant experience on these issues from the US, Canada, NZ and the UK to attend a workshop on “Strategies for Enhancing Women’s Participation and Promotion in Philosophy” at the 2007 AAP Australian Conference (To this end, that Council provide a letter of support to the AVCC promoting this project) the AAP Council has committed $2500 in 2006-07 for the collection of relevant data and research assistance for this project.

For further information about this project, please contact :

Professor Susan Dodds
Philosophy Program School of English Literatures, Philosophy and Languages
University of Wollongong NSW 2522 AUSTRALIA
phone: +61 2 4221 3621
fax: +61 2 4221 5341
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/staff/dodds/