Two Turkish females defending the position of women in Dutch academia… sounds ironic? Research by Bige Tuncer and Tuba Kocaturk, PhD candidates at TU Delft’s Architecture Faculty, revealed the reasons for the dismally low percentage of female academics employed by Dutch universities.
“Truthfully, in the beginning we were both kind of skeptical about this subject,” Bige Tuncer says, “because many people relate it directly to feminism.” In March, Tuncer and Tuba Kocaturk gave a presentation about female participation at TU Delft for the opening of the ‘Vrouwen en Techniek‘ (Women & Technology) exhibition at the Faculty of Architecture.
Of course, both women were aware of the ongoing debate on this subject in the Netherlands, and they’d also had their own experiences and observations. And yes, Tuncer’s faculty mentor – Professor Sevil Sariyildiz, also from Turkey – is involved in the issue. But once the two PhDs’ started researching the issue, they increasingly realized the importance of the discussion in this country.
“It was shocking to discover the facts about the very weak participation of women,” Kocaturk says. “The percentage of female academics, especially within the fields of technical and natural sciences, is very low in most Western European countries, with The Netherlands scoring the lowest with less than 5% female professors. This percentage rises to as high as 40% in countries like Turkey and Slovakia.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk explicitly stress that they don’t see it as a question of superiority of either sex or a battle between them. “The real issue is that inequalities in the scientific field excludes lots of potential, while at the same time excellence requires diversity,” Tuncer says. “Accordingly, the complementary qualities of men and women should be encouraged and exploited as much as possible.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk identify three different forms of gender-based segregation. Vertical segregation means that although women are well-represented at undergraduate levels, and in many countries at graduate levels (including PhD candidates), the percentage of women gets gradually lower (if not vanishing completely) in the top administrative and academic positions. At TU Delft, as of the end of 2003, the percentage of female PhD candidates was 24%, assistant professors (UD) 15%, associate professors (UHD) 5% and full professors (HL) 3%.
Horizontal segregation refers to the fact that in the western world, many more women choose for the social sciences and liberal arts, rather than for technical and natural sciences. As a possible explanation, Tuncer and Kocaturk state that already back in the 18th century modern sciences were constructed by the ‘white male’, excluding women’s contributions.
The third form of gender-based segregation is contractual segregation: men more often have permanent positions, while women often have limited, fixed-term contracts and funds.
Stereotypes
But where does this segregation exactly stem from? Some hard-line feminists say it’s a systematic oppression of women in male-dominated society and even more so in the scientific world. Others suggest that women aren’t talented enough in the technical sciences, or that women simply lack ambition.
Tuncer and Kocaturk say the reasons can be found in more down to earth, practical factors, such as insufficient child-care and poor maternal/paternal leave facilities for young female scientists. “TU Delft even lacks day child-care and a nursery,” Tuncer says. They also stress that in the current university environment, female students for example face “perceived stereotypes” and a lack of positive role models. Kocaturk: “It’s not uncommon to hear female scientific staff complain that she’s been ‘ignored, constantly interrupted, and talked over in meetings’, or to say that she’s ‘been told by a male colleague that I got this position only because of my beautiful eyes.'”
According to both Turkish academics, informal networks are another reality in the current academic system, which are often referred to as ‘gentlemen’s clubs’. The deficiency of the peer-review system becomes more visible as a result of men holding most of the influential positions, acting as gatekeepers, consciously or unconsciously obstructing the career paths of women who ‘do not belong to the club’.
Tuncer and Kocaturk believe there’s a real need for change, not only for the sheer joy of the multiplicity, but even more to establish natural diversity and create economic advantages. Tuncer: “This requires another mindset and not just an increase in percentages. ‘You can’t just add women and stir’, to quote the American feminist author and activist Charlotte Bunch.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk try to spread the message as much as they can. “Our aim is to raise the consciousness-level of people about this topic and keep discussions going both at TU Delft and in Dutch academia generally,” Kocaturk says. “This is important. Nothing will change if academics like us don’t take the initiative.”
Bige Tuncer and Tuba Kocaturk (Photo: Ekim Tan, MSc, Turkey)
“Truthfully, in the beginning we were both kind of skeptical about this subject,” Bige Tuncer says, “because many people relate it directly to feminism.” In March, Tuncer and Tuba Kocaturk gave a presentation about female participation at TU Delft for the opening of the ‘Vrouwen en Techniek‘ (Women & Technology) exhibition at the Faculty of Architecture.
Of course, both women were aware of the ongoing debate on this subject in the Netherlands, and they’d also had their own experiences and observations. And yes, Tuncer’s faculty mentor – Professor Sevil Sariyildiz, also from Turkey – is involved in the issue. But once the two PhDs’ started researching the issue, they increasingly realized the importance of the discussion in this country.
“It was shocking to discover the facts about the very weak participation of women,” Kocaturk says. “The percentage of female academics, especially within the fields of technical and natural sciences, is very low in most Western European countries, with The Netherlands scoring the lowest with less than 5% female professors. This percentage rises to as high as 40% in countries like Turkey and Slovakia.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk explicitly stress that they don’t see it as a question of superiority of either sex or a battle between them. “The real issue is that inequalities in the scientific field excludes lots of potential, while at the same time excellence requires diversity,” Tuncer says. “Accordingly, the complementary qualities of men and women should be encouraged and exploited as much as possible.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk identify three different forms of gender-based segregation. Vertical segregation means that although women are well-represented at undergraduate levels, and in many countries at graduate levels (including PhD candidates), the percentage of women gets gradually lower (if not vanishing completely) in the top administrative and academic positions. At TU Delft, as of the end of 2003, the percentage of female PhD candidates was 24%, assistant professors (UD) 15%, associate professors (UHD) 5% and full professors (HL) 3%.
Horizontal segregation refers to the fact that in the western world, many more women choose for the social sciences and liberal arts, rather than for technical and natural sciences. As a possible explanation, Tuncer and Kocaturk state that already back in the 18th century modern sciences were constructed by the ‘white male’, excluding women’s contributions.
The third form of gender-based segregation is contractual segregation: men more often have permanent positions, while women often have limited, fixed-term contracts and funds.
Stereotypes
But where does this segregation exactly stem from? Some hard-line feminists say it’s a systematic oppression of women in male-dominated society and even more so in the scientific world. Others suggest that women aren’t talented enough in the technical sciences, or that women simply lack ambition.
Tuncer and Kocaturk say the reasons can be found in more down to earth, practical factors, such as insufficient child-care and poor maternal/paternal leave facilities for young female scientists. “TU Delft even lacks day child-care and a nursery,” Tuncer says. They also stress that in the current university environment, female students for example face “perceived stereotypes” and a lack of positive role models. Kocaturk: “It’s not uncommon to hear female scientific staff complain that she’s been ‘ignored, constantly interrupted, and talked over in meetings’, or to say that she’s ‘been told by a male colleague that I got this position only because of my beautiful eyes.'”
According to both Turkish academics, informal networks are another reality in the current academic system, which are often referred to as ‘gentlemen’s clubs’. The deficiency of the peer-review system becomes more visible as a result of men holding most of the influential positions, acting as gatekeepers, consciously or unconsciously obstructing the career paths of women who ‘do not belong to the club’.
Tuncer and Kocaturk believe there’s a real need for change, not only for the sheer joy of the multiplicity, but even more to establish natural diversity and create economic advantages. Tuncer: “This requires another mindset and not just an increase in percentages. ‘You can’t just add women and stir’, to quote the American feminist author and activist Charlotte Bunch.”
Tuncer and Kocaturk try to spread the message as much as they can. “Our aim is to raise the consciousness-level of people about this topic and keep discussions going both at TU Delft and in Dutch academia generally,” Kocaturk says. “This is important. Nothing will change if academics like us don’t take the initiative.”
Bige Tuncer and Tuba Kocaturk (Photo: Ekim Tan, MSc, Turkey)
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