The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg famously recalled being turned away from a library at Harvard because it didn't allow women inside. In 2022 such stories reflect lack of gender equality in the past, but the origins and the attitudes behind them still linger in higher education today.
As the international community marks Women’s Equality Day (Aug. 26), it is important to note that society has made significant strides. In Israel alone, according to the Council for Higher Education, women comprise the majority of enrolled students in every degree from bachelor’s (58%) to PhD (53%). But for women who choose to remain in academia, their opportunities for advancement and promotions are still not on par with men, and gender equity among higher education faculty is still elusive.
Since representation matters, certainly when it comes to who is educating the next generation of students, University of Haifa is proud to be a leader among Israeli higher education institutions in paving a path forward to achieving gender equity for its women faculty. Currently, 45% of the University’s faculty members are women — exceeding most other major higher education institutions in Israel.
Shulamit Almog
Not to be confused with gender equality, gender equity is an ongoing process that is designed to promote gender parity between men and women in an organization. Gender equity, then, is the method by which we finally achieve gender equality — the final result. In academia, achieving gender equity has the potential to affect society as a whole, from the classroom to the boardroom.
There are myriad reasons why this issue persists today, some of which are hardly intentional. The academic ethos could be blind to its own gender bias when it comes to recruitment and promotions, or to the prevalence of blatant exclusionary practices like sexual harassment or work hours that are incompatible with achieving a work-family balance. Often, any kind of gender discrimination occurs in the shadows, where institutional leaders are unaware of an issue since nothing has been reported — or they are in willful denial of its existence.
Moreover, sometimes even well-meaning initiatives can backfire. Take, for example, the various government and non-governmental incentives that aim to get women involved in the STEM fields. While those initiatives are commendable, they leave women who choose to go into non-STEM related disciplines under-supported.
