Under What Conditions Do Female Professors Work at KIT?

Under what conditions do female professors work at KIT and how are they doing? The "Survey of the current situation of female professors" provides verifiable answers to these questions. The basis is a quantitative and qualitative data collection over a period of one and a half years from February 2021 under the leadership of the Competence Center Women in Science and Research (CEWS). Several organizational units, the KIT departments and individuals from the KIT supported the CEWS in collecting the data. On the one hand, the three data sources of the study - information on income, equipment and resources of the professors appointed at KIT between 2015 and 2020, online survey of all professors, in-depth interviews with ten female professors - had to be properly evaluated.

Secondly, the project followed a participatory approach, according to which those carrying out the project, those affected, the Equal Opportunities Officers and members of the Executive Board met repeatedly to exchange views. "This steering committee held a total of five workshops," reports project manager Katrin Klink, former head of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Management (CDM) department of the Personnel Development and Vocational Training (PEBA) service unit. "KIT-specific impulses for the design of the study, for the reflection and classification of the initial results and for the derivation of recommendations for action could be obtained and further processed in this way," says Klink.

No gender pay gap

Comparable studies had raised the expectation that a gender-specific pay gap, the infamous gender pay gap, would also be discernible at KIT. But whether basic salary, bonuses, appointment or retention benefits: In the sample we looked at, the median between the genders - with small swings to one side or the other - always settled very much in the middle. In the case of so-called one-off funds (money for investments from the presidential appointment budget), female professors are even clearly ahead. "For professors appointed as W1 tenure-track and W3 between 2015 and 2020, we found virtually no gender pay gap and no or only slight gender differences overall in terms of salary and benefits as well as access to resources," explains Nathalie Lenges, project coordinator of the first survey.

Differences in the overall survey

Of course, figures are not everything when it comes to gaining an in-depth understanding of a work situation; encounters, moods and internal assessments also create facts. In this area of experience, the online survey of all professors revealed striking differences between the genders. For example, just half of female professors feel that their remuneration is appropriate. They are also more critical than their colleagues when it comes to the conditions of their work, such as the status of their professorship, the reputation of their subject or the extent of their caring responsibilities.

In addition, female professors stated significantly more frequently that they had experienced or observed discrimination and verbal abuse - be it in relation to gender or in terms of points of attack such as age, nationality and physical appearance. The daily struggle to find a balance between life and work also appears to place a greater burden on female managers. "However," adds project manager Katrin Klink, "gender is not the only dimension that influences working conditions and working atmosphere. Our online survey in particular points to a need for change across all genders - for example in the administrative workload."

Whether overarching or specific to female professors: Now that the points that matter have been identified, those responsible also want to address them. Concrete implementation steps have already been derived, including preparations for the follow-up survey due to start in 2024.