Increasing gender balance in organizations is about improving the quality of the workplace for everyone. Improving the quality of the workplace feeds institutional goals across the board. Making the value of diversity in a workforce visible must become an integral part of leadership development programs. These 6 steps helped the University of Tromsø increase diversity 50% in four years. Learn more…
The fatherhood bonus: Have a child and advance your career
December 14, 2011 By 7 Comments
The careers of different men progress at different rates. That’s just as we would expect. Higher performers are rewarded; lower performers slow down. Our accomplishments guide our careers. Good workplaces are meritocracies — do your job well, and you’ll get ahead. That’s what we believe. Or, at least that’s what we want to believe. But… Read More…
The motherhood penalty: It’s not children that slow mothers down
December 8, 2011 By 32 Comments
There are fewer women at the top because they have a different work/life balance than men, it is claimed. Mothers’ careers progress slowly because they are mothers — because they have to spend more time on their children. There’s some appeal in this explanation; it seems intuitively correct. Mothers have greater childcare responsibilities than fathers. And while… Read More…
How to get more women professors: success on the top of the world!
December 3, 2011 By 12 Comments
With focus and commitment, the University of Tromsø has become Norway’s leading university for gender balance. New statistics have arrived and they reveal that 27.4% of our full professors are women.
Tromsø is better than any other institution of higher education in Norway, and it is well ahead of the national average of 23%. Learn why and how we did it.
What happens when we have no students?
November 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
What should universities and colleges do when students don’t want to take our courses? What if no one wants a degree in German? What if Art History only attracts a handful of students?
We read often about the lost value of humanities degrees for the students who take them and how institutions lose money by maintaining a broad offering. Should we just shut those programs down?
Spanish professors are sexist
November 19, 2011 By 5 Comments
Spanish professors hold women back. The system is easier on men. Women have to do significantly more to reach the top. This is the clear conclusion of the Spanish government’s White Paper on the Position of Women in Science in Spain. Men, the White Paper concludes, are 2.5 times more likely than otherwise identical women to become… Read More…
Four crucial steps for hosting a successful write-in
November 15, 2011 By 4 Comments
Keep writing. Every day. That’s what the experts say. Maybe you just have time to write a single paragraph. Can you summarize what you wrote yesterday? Can you write a few notes about the next section in your project? Find your strategy and stick with it. Don’t succumb to Writer’s Block — but if you… Read More…
There are only 3 reasons women don’t make it to the top
November 13, 2011 By 39 Comments
Equality targets as a leadership tool
November 8, 2011 By 15 Comments
A decision to implement equality targets is a decision to pursue quality. Equality targets should lead to increased gender balance. And increased gender balance leads to many improvements, such as employee satisfaction and, concomitantly, the productivity of the organization. The concept of targets is the heir to the concept of quotas. And the claim that… Read More…
Breakthrough knowledge: Research, education and universities
November 5, 2011 By 3 Comments
Discovering something no one knew before is research. Discovering something that you didn’t know before, but someone else did, is education. I love the idea of universities. I spend my days with people who work to understand something better: the universe, the world, societies, brains, kids, change, books, and more. That’s research. What do we… Read More…
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