Do professors have more children than female professors? And if so, why?
7,414 women and 5,625 men study at the University of Basel. They are taught by 96 male and 284 male professors.
11,365 women and 8,076 men study at the University of Bern. They are taught by 161 male and 394 male professors.
11,778 women and 7,087 men study at the University of Geneva. They are taught by 174 female and 385 male professors.
16,473 women and 11,648 men study at the University of Zurich. They are taught by 203 female and 532 male professors.
Why does a female majority in the lecture hall become a male dominance in the front of the lectern? Are men the more brilliant researchers and better teachers? Do your networks make it easier to climb the career ladder? Or is our society generally geared towards male CVs?
Is it perhaps the case that female students sometimes become mothers? Who can no longer fight for a chair around the clock because they are literally gaining life experience instead of acquiring one-sided knowledge?
In order to answer these questions, it would be helpful to know, among other things: How many children do the professors at Swiss universities have? Is it possible that men have more children? If so, one could, for example, draw the conclusion that conscious consideration must be given to female biographies in the appointment process. Or that more staff are needed in the day care centers. And that these day-care centers should cost the parents less.
In response to a corresponding request, the University of Basel writes: “An indication of the children cannot be given because precise data collection is not possible.”
The University of Bern writes: “We cannot answer your question as to which professors have children and who don’t, as this is not statistically recorded.”
The University of Geneva writes: “The University of Geneva does not collect this data.”
The University of Zurich writes: “Unfortunately, we cannot determine these figures.”
What emerges here is a textbook data gap. And an important reason why women still have a harder time than men in 2022. As long as something as existential as children, their care and the compatibility of family and work are not of interest to the responsible authorities, there will be no equal opportunities.
No one should be surprised if science and research and, ultimately, our everyday lives are male-dominated. Because men are in the majority in research, men are the norm in research. One consequence of this is – you guessed it! – that affordable and high-quality external childcare is not a priority in Switzerland. And that motherhood BECOMES a so-called career killer.
My colleagues Camille Kündig and Dana Liechti describe another consequence of male over-representation at universities in the current Sunday newspaper Blick. Her research revolves around attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder. ADHD manifests itself differently in girls than in boys: they don’t attract attention, but suffer in silence. Therefore, this neurological syndrome remains largely undetected in girls and young women. ADHD can also make a difference in your life. In short: women with ADHD are disadvantaged compared to men – simply for the reason that medicine has a data and research gap here.
And ADHD is just one example. Another is the heart attack: in men, the severe chest pain that radiates into the arm is typical, in women the heart attack is often accompanied by non-specific symptoms such as sleep disorders, nausea or stomach ache. However, because there is a lack of awareness of these differences, heart attacks in women are often overlooked. As a result, the death rate from heart attacks is higher in women than in men.
Male dominance and data gaps not only have a major impact on life. They can also make direct decisions about life and death.