Some NUIG lecturers on maternity leave asked to work

Some women lecturers at NUI Galway have been asked by their managers to work while they are on maternity leave, it has emerged.

“It is still the case that female academics while on maternity leave are occasionally asked to ‘look after’ postgraduate students,” according to a member of NUIG’s Governing Body.

The issue was highlighted at the May meeting of Údarás na hOllscoile, during a discussion on the university’s task force on gender equality.

NUIG President Jim Browne told the meeting that this practice was “unacceptable”.

Another member of the Governing Body, “stressed that colleagues needed to know that they could complain about such matters in the expectation that swift action would be taken against managers applying such pressure.”

Meanwhile, the minutes note that a member of the taskforce, referring to the legal case being taken against NUIG by five female academics, said the matter, “represented an embarrassment for the university, which exposed it to continuing opprobrium and dishonour”.

That case was before the High Court last month and is still ‘live’.

Professor Jane Grimson, chairperson of NUIG’s taskforce on gender equality, was given a “sustained round of applause” in May after briefing the Governing Body on the conclusions of the taskforce she chaired.

In her address, she said NUIG “could become a leader on gender equality within the higher education system if it paid diligent and systematic attention to the delivery of the actions required by the recommendations” of the taskforce, which includes quotas.

Last December, Professor Grimson also updated the Governing Body on progress of the gender equality taskforce.

In response to questions, Dr Browne confirmed to the meeting that some €300,000 has been set aside by NUIG for “various interventions” recommended by the gender equality taskforce.

The meeting was told that “the cost of not committing significant expenditure to equality initiatives would be self-defeating for the university community”.

At the April Governing Body meeting members were told that Professor Grimson had “engaged with the national media in advance of the release of the draft report within the university, in order to help set the tone and context for public discussion on its many recommendations”.

Members were urged to engage “strongly and proactively” with the recommendations of the taskforce report, their “importance for the future of the university” was emphasised.

President Browne said the taskforce report was “rigorous and insightful” and it would be of “enormous assistance” to NUIG, “in tackling the many issues impacting adversely on the achievement of gender equality in the university”.

He pledged to implement the full recommendations of the report “as early and as comprehensively as possible”.

One member asked the President what plans he had for staff consultation regarding the implementation of the taskforce and “expressed concern that a consultative process could have the unfortunate consequence of delaying urgently needed actions in addressing gender equality in the university”.

The minutes record that Mr Browne “agreed with the member that vigilance should be exercised in relation to any time set-aside for in-house consultations regarding the implementation issues concerning some of the taskforce recommendations”.

One member said the report should be made public, adding “the media should be kept actively informed of progress in implementing the task force recommendations”.