Author: Eija M Tuominen

I had the joy and privilege to participate in the 10th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education (link), 20 – 22 August 2018 in Dublin Ireland with the kind support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation (Suomen Kulttuurirahasto). The University of Helsinki hosted the very first European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education in 1998. The next one will take place in Madrid in two years.

This conference was useful and pleasant for the same reasons that all the conferences are useful and pleasant: I learn useful information about the subject, I meet and network with great people – and I get extra confidence that I am doing the right thing for my work. Or, in the case of gender equality, I am doing the right thing for my side activity. After all, my main activity is to run a laboratory and study radiation detectors for particle physics.

Throughout the conference, several outstanding speakers emphasized that gender equality is equality for both men and women. It is widely acknowledged that diverse communities make better decisions. The significant underrepresentation of women in higher education institutes is not only injustice towards competent individuals but also a terrible loss of human potential. European countries just cannot afford to lose so many women in higher education.

Students are important for us in the Academic World. Several recent studies reveal that girls perform excellently in all the disciplines at school, including mathematics and physics. Nevertheless, at the Faculty of Science of the University of Helsinki, we see that young women are less interested than young men to enter the STEM disciplines. At that stage, role models play an important role: we women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics can show that this is the right place to be for everyone.

The importance of informal women’s networks (such as our Women in Kumpula network) were emphasized. These networks are not only for discussing gender issues and improving gender awareness but also for discussing scientific topics, providing role models and mentoring, and exchanging ideas. Networks can act as structures that are needed to fight the consequences of unconscious bias – a significant obstacle for female careers in science.

I gave a well-attended presentation about sexual harassment in Finnish Academia, based on the recent study by the Helsinki Association of Women Researchers (HelWoR). We investigated the frequency of occurrences of sexual harassment; the difficulty of defining what sexual harassment is; how seldom people report their experiences; and the negative responses people get when they report. Our study also revealed critical areas, which should be considered to prevent sexual harassment in future.

One confusing thing there was in this conference: European colleagues kept asking me why gender equality does not interest Finland. They were surprised that, among the 364 conference participants in this conference, only me and a lady from Tampere were from Finland. In addition, it was HelWoR who sent me, not my university. Nevertheless, let us be positive: let us hope that gender strategies will turn into good gender practices in Finnish Academia!

I had the joy and privilege to participate in the Second LERU Gender Conference, 14 – 15 June 2018 in Zurich Switzerland (link) with the kind support of Finnish Cultural Foundation (Suomen Kulttuurirahasto).

The special theme of the conference was implicit bias, or unconscious bias, in Academia. Dr. Emma Terämä presented the same theme at the annual meeting of the Helsinki Association of Women Researchers, more info here. Recently, LERU (League of European Research Universities) has published an interesting report: ”Implicit bias in academia: A challenge to the meritocratic principle and to women’s careers – And what to do about it”, see the report.

In general, unconscious biases are stereotypes about groups of people that others form without conscious awareness. Unconscious bias in assessing excellence is one of the major problems affecting women in science. Then, the gender discrimination takes place in subconscious level. It is an accumulative disadvantage playing a strong role in the recruitment, working conditions, career advancement, and research funding situations of women in Academia. Unfortunately, women are not any better towards other women, especially if they themselves have been successful with their careers.

Changes in the culture have proven to be hard and slow. This is visible e.g. in the “gender scissors”, see below. The career position is related to money, power and status – and the situation have remained practically the same for the last 20 years. The competence, ambition and priorities of women researchers keep on being questioned although hundreds of studies and metastudies have found that in science there are no systematic gender differences in anything. The sad story in Academia is that researchers tend to regard themselves objective, although the unconscious bias is especially strong when people are not cautious about it.

Implicit bias affects especially young women in the beginning of their careers. The post-doc stage is very important for staying in the Academia. For example, the strong – but questionable – requirement for international mobility at post-doc stage is probably the major contribution for the leaky pipeline, clearly visible in the “gender scissors”. Namely, family constraints affect especially young women. Furthermore, the experiences of sexual harassment, affecting mostly young females, may play a significant role, too.

Luckily, there are methods to change unconscious bias to conscious awareness. First, general consciousness about the existence and character of unconscious bias must be raised. This can be done via training. The role of construal and committed leadership is important, too. Other effective methods to fight unconscious bias include positive role models, mentorship programs, women’s networks, bias-free language, and structural changes in research institutes.

In this conference, some good practices and advice were discussed: Do not publicly look down or undermine other women! Do not listen or distribute rumors or “hear-says”, especially in evaluations! Give recommendations emphasizing professional skills and excellency over character and temperament! And last but not least: Although important, it is not enough just to establish women’s networks / equality officers / antibias training / whatever written rules and formal policies – and imagine that the issue is solved. Gender equality is a process. Little things matter. Be courageous!

More info about implicit bias: watch this video.

The recent discussion on sexual harassment and the #metoo campaign have raised increased awareness of harassment and its manifestations. However, there is little information about harassment in Academia. Thus, the Helsinki Association for Women Researchers (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/tutkijanaiset/ ) decided to conduct an inquiry about sexual harassment at Finnish universities.

By March 15^th, a total of 437 people, of which 79% women and 18% men, answered the inquiry. The answers came mostly from the University of Helsinki but also from Aalto University, the University of Art and from other universities in Finland. The respondents were both staff and students.

Although all the universities have zero tolerance policies, about half of the women and one-third of the men answering the inquiry had been victims of sexual harassment. In the Kumpula Faculty of Science, the numbers are 40% for women and 20% for men (totally 70 people: 70% women and 30% men). In addition, many of those who had not experienced harassment themselves had witnessed cases of harassment. The experiences included measuring bodies in sexual manner, telling suggestive jokes, sending sexually-oriented photos, proposing sex, promising grades or academic progress against sex, illicit touching, kissing by force, and even rape.

Only 12 percent of the female victims and 1 person among the male victims reported the harassment along official channels. Some more discussed the events with their colleagues, friends or families. But most of the victims did not share their experiences with anyone. The darkest experiences of all where those where the victims did report their experiences to their superiors – but nothing was done. More information about the numbers gathered in the inquiry is found here: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/tutkijanaiset/files/2018/03/tilastojastatistics.pdf .

Young women were particularly vulnerable. The offenders were often their supervisors or people who were in the position of power over them. Many of the victims, shocked by their experiences, were not sure if they were harassed or not.  And even if they recognized the harassment, they often did not want to report the cases since they were afraid for their career or their reputation. And even if they were willing to react, they did not necessary know what to do or whom to contact.  And even if they reacted, their reports were all too often ignored.  Men also described cases of harassment, the most typical cases being unwanted touching and unwanted suggestions for sex.

Two themes recurred in the replies: shame and guilt. The victims often blamed themselves and wondered what they had done wrong. In addition, humiliation, insecurity and the feeling of lack of control in one’s own life were common reactions. Experiences of not being trusted or taken seriously increased the feelings of shame and guilt. The responses revealed that the experiences of harassment could have traumatic impact on people’s lives for years.

The recent open and active discussion about sexual harassment in various forms of media has had a positive effect: several contributors, in discussing their experience, indicated that nowadays they would have reacted differently.  Many of the respondents agree that Academia can fight sexual harassment by discussing it openly and by inventing methods to immediately identify and react to harassment. Low threshold reporting channels are also found to be very important in the survey. In general, continuous and active information dissemination and prevention of misconduct are seen to be the key to erasing sexual harassment from universities.

To conclude, a couple of words of advice: Every one of us has the right to feel safe and respected in our place of work or study. So, act when you even suspect sexual harassment. Tell the malefactor to stop. If you dare not, or if the person does not stop, or if the case is serious: report to your official supervisor or your supervisor’s supervisor. They have the legal responsibility to react to the cases of harassment. There are also specific harassment contact persons both at universities and student unions.