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- Title
Fra feminisme til favorisme? Kønsrepræsentation i universitetsforskning.
- Authors
Bonde, Hans
- Abstract
It would be of immense benefit to society if the enormous sums invested in raising educational standards for women provided greater outputs in terms of research. In Scandinavian countries today programmes in mentoring, research leadership and networking are offered specifically for women. However, over the last twenty years increasingly radical support mechanisms have been introduced to ensure that women are exempt from male competition. The relatively low numbers of women among the higher levels of Danish research (16 percent of professors are women) are attributed, in this article, to the opportunities that the Scandinavian welfare model creates for long periods of maternity leave and reduced working hours, which are compatible with the wish among many Danish women for close ties with children and family. Programmes for increasing the numbers of women are supported to a great extent from above by top male leaders, regardless of whether those men are high-ranking figures in universities or research funding agencies. This suggests a paternalistic tendency on the part of the male-dominated leadership that seeks to protect women from especially younger male competition. Such favouritism can thus be interpreted as being based on prejudice about female weakness and about women's insufficient ability to make independent decisions, which contrary to intentions works against any empowerment of women. This favouritism is here analysed in the light of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice and Adam B. Seligman's theory of »trust«. This analysis demonstrates that the Danish mechanisms of favouritism that are supposed to help women increase their collective representation cannot be philosophically justified not least because discrimination against women cannot be claimed to exist within Danish research.
- Publication
Økonomi & Politik, 2014, Vol 87, Issue 3, p3
- ISSN
0030-1906
- Publication type
Article