NUI Galway, which for years has been at the centre of the storm when it comes to gender inequality, is actively headhunting a female president. Apparently convinced this will be the solution to the institution’s problems, the university is more likely to learn a different lesson: tackling the symptom without addressing the root cause is always going to be to some extent futile.
Here, the central problem is an underrepresentation of women in senior academic roles. And while the historic appointment of the country’s first female president would not be something that should be taken for granted, parachuting in a woman will not resolve a crisis that is complex, multi-faceted and besets every other university in the country.
There are many female academics who are talented, hard-working and ambitious. But their move from junior to more senior positions is stymied not simply by the lack of a role model on committees and executive boards, but by a glut of institutional factors – from temporary contracts to a lack of childcare.
This is not to say that electing a female president would not have any effect. Louise Richardson, the first female Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, has spoken in the past of her firm commitment to promoting women to senior roles. But a female leader, by her very presence, will not suddenly become a panacea to wider gender inequality.
Having to headhunt a female leader, in itself, is an admittance of failure. And with 51 per cent of lecturers in Irish universities female, it’s hard not to see the value of quotas. Introducing gender quotas for senior management is the kind of radical action needed to address the current attitude.
Being the poster child for inequality in the past makes NUIG the perfect testing bed to test such HEA recommendations, and they have been more open to implementing recommendations than other universities.
But simply having a new face of female leadership will not be enough to change the status quo. More radical action is needed.
