Pushing the Gender Equality Agenda Forward in the European Union

Abstract

Interest in and, indeed, concern about the issue of gender equality and universities in the European Union have been growing over the last decade. EU commissioners have been particularly alarmed by the failure of universities in the EU to recruit, retain, and promote women academics. Although women constitute over half the undergraduates in the European Union, they stubbornly retain only 14% of the professorships (EC, 2003). Universities present themselves as meritocratic, liberal institutions. However, even though gender equality may be a principle of academic life, statistics show that it is not the practice. The `leaky pipeline', which haemorrhages women from academic careers, is a cause for concern largely because of the European Union's commitment to become a more economically competitive, knowledge-based global region. But gender equality is also driven partly by a commitment to the European `social model' and hence to social justice. This commitment was manifested in the Amsterdam Treaty mandating that the European Union and all its member states provide equal treatment for all regardless of sex, race, and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, and religious and political beliefs and that gender equality be mainstreamed in all EU policies (Commission of the European Communities, 1996).