Beyond the Academic Glass Ceiling: Notes on the Situation of Women Professors in Brazil

Abstract

In universities in many countries women are now both graduate as well as undergraduate students, and also researchers and professors. Recent studies have pointed out, however, that although women's access to different roles in universities is fundamental to achieve gender equality in the academic career, it is definitely not enough. In this chapter, the case of Brazil is considered, in the hope of investigating which mechanisms operate in keeping such inequalities going -- and if they are maintained, given certain specificities of the Brazilian academic career: (i) professors in public research universities are public employees, and they are granted permanence in their posts; (ii) their salary and conditions of employment do not need to be negotiated individually, thus men and women have identical conditions of employment; (iii) their promotion criteria is discussed among professors themselves and such universities are administrated by them in collegiate systems; (iv) their payment allows hiring domestic employees in order to spare more time for work if needed. This chapter gives a broader view of the Brazilian higher education system and investigates the case of one of the top research universities in the country, to examine how the chances of arriving at the top position of the academic career vary according to gender, and if there is any relationship between women's access to a certain area or discipline and their actual chances of arriving at the top position.