Attitudes to gender equality issues in British and German academia

This paper explores a range of perceived similarities and differences between male and female academics in the context of contemporary European Union “gender mainstreaming” policy. It concentrates upon the higher education systems of Germany and the United Kingdom, and is based upon questionnaire responses. A large majority of respondents believe that more needs to be done to remedy inequalities arising from maternity leave and child rearing, and that their universities are still gendered organisations with too few women at the top. Many females regard themselves as less strategic than males in managing their careers, and believe that they need to behave the same as men to succeed. They think that men have historically dominated in their subject area and still do so. Relatively small percentages of men endorse these opinions in relation to women, and their responses are often positive in their perception of female academics. It is almost universally agreed that women are doing a good professional job, and very few employees (either male or female) experience gross forms of bullying and harassment at work. A certain convergence between the genders in some respects may indicate the erosion of binary gender hierarchies in the current policy environment.