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Rector doubts value of gender bias training to cum laude

Perhaps more women would obtain their doctorate with a cum laude distinction if doctoral committees received training against gender bias, a step Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven is considering. TU/e Rector Magnificus Frank Baaijens does not think this will help. “What is actually necessary is for everyone to become aware that there may be an implicit gender bias, and that includes scientists.”

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photo Lea Sormani

The minister is responding to parliamentary questions from her own party (D66) about an article in national newspaper NRC Handelsblad. This states that men are one-and-a-half to more than two times as likely to obtain a doctorate cum laude than women. Whether the figures are correct, Van Engelshoven cannot confirm. But she does find them troubling, because for women scientists the missed opportunity of a cum laude “may well put them at a disadvantage right at the start of the career ladder.”

The minister suspects that gender bias is the root cause: women, whether or not intentionally, are appraised less highly. She therefore plans to start a dialogue with universities association VSNU “about the positive effects that training can offer doctoral committees with regard to implicit associations and gender bias.”

Cum laude at TU/e

Between 2008 and 2017 2,145 persons studied for a doctoral degree at TU/e (553 women and 1.592 men). A cum laude doctoral degree was obtained by 127 persons (17 women and 110 men), in total 6 percent. This was the case for 3 percent of the women and 7 percent of the men.

Illustratie | Natasha Franc

The designation ‘cum laude’ has been attributed to PhDs at TU/e since 1999. A committee of nine professors - at present all men - advises on the award of this distinction. Rector Frank Baaijens chairs the group, which comes together once a year to discuss general matters and procedures pertaining to the cum laude. The next meeting is planned for this coming Friday and for the first time the gender imbalance in the number of cum laudes at our university is on the agenda.

Procedures

Baaijens emphasizes that a meticulous process is followed when a cum laude is applied for. “It is important that the supervisor takes the initiative well in advance of the conferral ceremony, that the doctoral committee agrees with the supervisor's proposal and, in addition to this, that external experts are subsequently asked for an opinion. Moreover, each proposal is also examined in detail by a member of the committee and the proposal is submitted to the entire committee for approval. Each cum laude proposal receives individual consideration.”

Baaijens does not think that training a doctoral committee to recognize implicit gender bias will help. “The initiative lies with the supervisor and the committee can only respond to the supervisor's proposal. What is actually necessary is for everyone to become aware that there may be an implicit gender bias, and that includes scientists.”

The rector points to Athena’s Angels, an initiative by four women professors keen to champion the interests of women in science. “It is a long-term challenge that is an issue in many areas of science. As such, it requires long-term attention, and if effective and efficient resources for this are available, then I would like to discuss this with the minister.”

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