Leiden University Sees 31.2 Per Cent Rise In Female Professors

The percentage of female professors at Leiden University has risen to 31.2 per cent. These are the results of the Women Professors Monitor 2021 published by the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH). This puts Leiden University above the national average of 26.7 per cent.

Leiden University is one of three Dutch universities to have passed the 30 per cent mark for female professors. Compared with last year, the share of female professors rose by 1.0 percentage point. This is the slowest growth in five years. It will take until 2041 to achieve an equal proportion of male and female professors. This is one year later compared with last year’s forecast.

Target figures
The Dutch Universities set targets for the percentage of female professors in the period 2020-2025. Leiden University’s target for 2025 is 35 percent. The forecast is that this figure will be achieved. The monitor shows that nine out of the 14 universities will not achieve their targets at the current rate. Last year this was six.

The more senior the role, the fewer the women
The monitor shows that the more senior the role, the fewer women there will be. Of the graduates from Dutch universities, more than half are women (53.4 per cent). Of PhD candidates and assistant professors, 44.5 per cent are women. Then the percentage of women drops to 32.4 per cent of associate professors and 26.7 per cent of professors.


Female academics: temporary contracts more likely
At all ranks, female academics are more likely to have temporary contracts than their male colleagues. At 4.4 per cent, the difference is greatest among assistant professors: 32.8 per cent of female assistant professors have a temporary contract in contrast to 28.4 per cent of male assistant professors.

Lower pay grades
Female academics have on average somewhat fewer contracted hours than their male colleagues. The exception is female professors: with 0.88 FTE, they actually have more contracted hours than their male colleagues’ 0.85 FTE. As regards pay, women are systematically placed in lower pay grades than their male colleagues.

In a press release the Dutch Network of Women Professors voices its concerns about the slower increase in the proportion of female professors at universities shown in the Monitor and asks the sector to renew its focus on retaining female academic talent.

Annetje Ottow said the following: ‘We are pleased that we at Leiden University are doing relatively well and are on track to meet the forecast, but we understand from the Monitor that this is not going to happen by itself. We will continue our efforts to ensure equal opportunities for all our staff. Much is still to be gained in terms of career advancement to top jobs for talented female students and young academics.’