Call to overhaul procedures for third-level promotions

Measures to improve women’s representation at senior academic levels are pointless unless promotion procedures are transparent, says an activist who won a recent high-profile case.

Micheline Sheehy Skeffington was successful in her case against NUI Galway for gender discrimination after failing to be promoted in 2008 to senior lecturer grade. The Equality Tribunal decision last December said there was a ramshackle approach to the interview process.

Severe gender imbalances at senior levels across the universities have since been highlighted by Higher Education Authority figures, and all seven this month signed up to the international Athena Swan charter to promote female career progression.