The numbers
New figures about the number of female professors appear about once a year. While their share used to stay constantly around 10 percent for years, it seems that some progress has finally been made in the past two years. About time, since the university only has a few months remaining to reach this self-imposed goal.
Explanations
Why are there fewer women professors at Erasmus University than in, for example, traditional masculine strongholds such as the technical universities in Delft and Eindhoven? And why does it seem to be so difficult to do anything about it? The answer to that question is complex, so very complex that a PhD student will try to formulate that answer throughout her entire PhD. Former RSM dean Steef van de Velde has his own view on it, and the previous chief diversity officer Hanneke Takkenberg saw herself as a modern day Don Quixote.
And then there are the official plans.
Westerdijk fiasco
The Westerdijk plan was devised by the previous minister of Education, Jet Bussemaker. The thought was: through a financial incentive, we are raising the embarrassingly low percentage of female professors nationwide. Unfortunately, the incentive (€ 50,000 per position) turned out to be insufficient to convince the Rotterdam faculties: only four of the nine positions available were filled. A quarter of a million euros was wasted.
More related articles
Are you looking for even more context around this topic? The articles below are often a bit more dated, but still offer you a wealth of information.
