Fourty thousand euros for sexual equality

We need more women at Tilburg University. In 2017, a quarter of the professors in Tilburg has to be female. In addition to that, fourty percent of the teachers and two out of five deans have to be women. The university invests 39.000 euros to reach these goals. Three faculties state that it won’t be that simple to reach sexual equality.

Only TSH and TSB think they can realize the desired m/f ratio by 2017 without problems. Law faculty TLS foresees problems with the share of female professors. Economics faculty TiSEM states that it expects problems with this so-called performance indicators. The theological faculty gets dispensation from this performance indicator on grounds of ‘specific ecclesiastical grounds’.

The 39.000 euros are spent on leadership programs, the foundation of ‘a network around gender & diversity’, lectures and the preparation of a GERI-grant. The authors of the gender policy are critical of the modest objectives that have been set for the previous strategic period (2008-2012). Tilburg was striving for 15 percent female professors by 2012, while other universities already had 26.1 percent.