Women in the Profession: The Composition of UK Political Science Departments by Sex
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9256.2012.01444.x |
| Date | 01 October 2012 |
| Published date | 01 October 2012 |
| Subject Matter | The Profession in Politics and International Studies |
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P O L I T I C S : 2 0 1 2 V O L 3 2 ( 3 ) , 1 3 9 – 1 5 2
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9256.2012.01444.x
The Profession in Politics and
International Studies
Women in the Profession: The
Composition of UK Political Science
Departments by Sexponl_1444139..152
Stephen Bates and Laura Jenkins
University of Birmingham
Zoe Pflaeger
University of Sussex
This article outlines the composition by sex of political scientists in the UK. The data show that
there are fewer women working in the profession than men and that there is a ‘seniority sex gap’.
The data are then broken down in terms of university membership groupings and individual
departments in order to produce snapshot rankings. These rankings are then combined to produce
an overall ranking of female presence within UK political science departments. Our findings suggest
that a ‘leaking pipeline’ persists and that numerical and seniority inequality will continue for a
considerable time unless further action is taken.
Keywords: profession; political science; status; women
This article updates and builds upon some aspects of similar previous research and
surveys which concentrate on the presence of women within British political
science (see, for example, Akhtar et al., 2005a and 2005b; Bennie and Topf, 2003;
Berrington and Norris, 1987; Childs and Krook, 2006; Norris, 1990; Topf, 2009).
This literature identifies that women are underrepresented within the discipline
and attempts to offer some explanations as to why this is the case. For example,
Parveen Akhtar et al. (2005b) point towards four factors that inhibit women from
pursuing postgraduate research in political science: stereotyping; (lack of) role
models; family commitments; and time constraints. Yet, literature in this area that
focuses on the UK is not as developed as the literature that focuses on the US (see,
for example, APSA, 2005; Assendelft, Gunther-Canada and Dolan, 2001; Assendelft
et al., 2003; Brandes et al., 2001; Burton, 1979; Burton and Darcy, 1985; Commit-
tee on the Status of Women, 1992; Converse and Converse, 1971; Finifter, 1973;
Henehan and Sarkees, 2009; Jaquette, 1971; Maliniak et al., 2008; Schuck, 1969;
Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll, 2006) and, even here, ‘Political science has studied
itself with respect to women’s advancement far less than economics, sociology, and
a number of the hard sciences’ (APSA, 2005, p. v).
Developing the literature on the status of women in political science in the UK and
more widely is important for issues of equality, justice and disciplinary self-
© 2012 The Authors. Politics © 2012 Political Studies Association
140
S T E P H E N B AT E S , L A U R A J E N K I N S A N D Z O E P F L A E G E R
reflection. The gender pay gap and women’s inequality and underrepresentation in
positions of authority, power and influence (whether in parliamentary politics,
business, the legal sector, media and culture or the public sector) are important
political issues and are recognised as such (see, for example, Equality and Human
Rights Commission, 2011). As the academy exercises a degree of authority and
control over the flow of information and creation of knowledge within society,
academic positions (in political science) should be regarded similarly. A number of
authors have highlighted residual issues with exclusion and parity within the
university sector (see, for example, Akhtar et al., 2005b; APSA, 2005; Bagilhole and
Goode, 2001; Fogelberg et al., 1999; Kantola, 2008; Lie and Malik, 1996) by
identifying a lack of women within senior academic posts, inhospitable institutional
climates, structural factors (for example, those surrounding family and childcare)
that hinder women’s career aspirations within universities, problems with the
reception of work on gender, and higher numbers of women who abandon the
academy. These matters should perhaps be particularly prominent internally within
political science given that issues of sex and gender inequality are so well estab-
lished as an area of sub-disciplinary research. It is maintaining and increasing the
prominence of issues surrounding the status of women within the discipline that is
one of the aims of this article.
The article sets out the percentage and seniority of male and female political
scientists working in UK universities both overall and by each UK department in
which political science and/or international relations is taught. These indicators are
then combined to provide an overall ranking of departments in terms of female
presence. The term ‘female presence’ should not be confused with notions of
‘women-friendliness’, as this article concentrates on issues of numerical (in)equal-
ity and cannot be used unproblematically to comment on the working environment
within which female political scientists operate. The data on female and male
academics are also compared to data that set out the percentages of male and female
undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate students between
the years 1994 and 2009. The data reveal that women make up less than a third of
political scientists working in the UK. Although this demonstrates a significant
improvement over the last two decades, the data also reveal three other findings
which are less encouraging and suggest that issues remain that deserve attention.
First, there is a significant ‘sex gap’ in terms of professional seniority. Second, a
‘leaking pipeline’ of prospective female political scientists exists (albeit to a lesser
extent now than previously) which means that women are more likely than men
to drop out of the discipline or choose alternative careers (see APSA, 2005). Third,
there is some evidence that female political scientists pool at the level of teaching or
research fellow and find it more difficult than their male counterparts to gain
lectureships.
Data were collected from public political science departmental websites listed on the
PSA website (http://www.psa.ac.uk/PolDept) in July and August 2011.1 This meant
that 77 institutions were analysed.2 For multidisciplinary departments such as the
University of the West of England’s Department of History, Philosophy and Politics,
only political scientists and international relations scholars were included in the
analysis. Decisions about which academics to include from these types of depart-
ment were made through (a combination of) job title, research interests, teaching
© 2012 The Authors. Politics © 2012 Political Studies Association
POLITICS: 2012 VOL 32(3)
W O M E N I N T H E P R O F E S S I O N
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areas and publications. Each academic was coded in terms of whether they were
male or female and their job title (four categories of: (1) teaching/research fellow;
(2) lecturer/senior research fellow; (3) senior lecturer/reader; and (4) professor).3
All the data were collected by the same person and then a random sample checked
for accuracy by the other authors.
Results
Of the 1,817 academics analysed, 30.8 per cent are female and 69.2 per cent are
male. Although data were collected by a different method, this is comparable to the
findings of the 2009 PSA Survey of the Profession in which women made up 30.3 per
cent of the profession (Topf, 2009). Women made up 24 per cent of the profession
in 2002, 19 per cent in 1997, 12 per cent in 1987 and 10 per cent in 1978 (Bennie
and Topf, 2003, cited in Childs and Krook, 2006, p. 26). Thus, although women
continue to comprise a minority of political scientists, a steady long-term increase
in their numbers can be perceived.
As can be seen from Table 1, while there are comparable numbers of male and
female teaching/research fellows, men outnumbered women quite significantly in
the other categories. Thus, as shown in Figure 1, while a quarter of female political
scientists are teaching/research fellows, just over a tenth of male political scientists
are employed on this basis. On the other hand, 29 per cent of male political
scientists but only 12 per cent of their female counterparts are professors.
These data can then be used to produce an average ‘seniority’ rating for both male
and...
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