UGII – University Gender Inequality Index. A proposal from the University of Bologna

Gian Piero Mignoli, Benedetta Prof. Siboni, Pasqua Rignanese, Camilla Valentini and Tullia Gallina Toschi
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Benedetta Prof. Siboni: University of Bologna

No kfg6m, OSF Preprints from Center for Open Science

Abstract: While universities have been considered gender neutral, being organisations in which merit should prevail, several reports denounce the under-representation of women worldwide. According to the European Union this current under-representation results in a waste of female talent and, thus, prevents the achievement of the European Research Area’s objective of Excellence in Research. Several gender indexes have been proposed to measure “gender equality” in countries, while only one addresses university. However, it primarily focuses on academics, thus neglecting non-academic staff and students. This paper aims to propose a new index formulated to measure and rank “gender inequality” at universities: the University Gender Inequality Index (UGII). This index results from the determination of 9 domains and 25 aspects measured by 25 indicators, considering academic staff, technical-administrative staff and students. Domains include both endogenous and exogenous aspects, but UGII builds on endogenous ones that universities can directly influence. All indicators come from existing databases, thus assuring its replicability over different universities as well as its sustainability. Using index numbers, UGII measures the distance between the situation of gender inequality performed by the university and the maximum level of inequality that can be recorded with regard to each domain. This gives the “real” situation of domains with male or female advantage, thus indicating directions in which to intervene to university governing bodies. Finally, synthesising index numbers calculated with reference to each domains, UGII gives a final score of the overall situation of gender inequality at the university, allowing comparisons among different time horizons and with other universities. This paper illustrates the methodology to calculate the UGII and its application with regards to the University of Bologna, and tests it for significance and completeness.

Date: 2018-08-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:osfxxx:kfg6m

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/kfg6m

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