Union slams NUIG gender equality report

Staff of NUI Galway – past and present – as well as student representatives, have criticised the recommendations of a gender equality taskforce which reported to the university’s governing body.

In a pre-emptive move, trade union IFUT, NUIG Students Union and campaigner Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington issued a joint statement, reiterating their stance on the need for action against discrimination at NUIG.

Separately, the trade union SIPTU, issued a statement outlining what it calls “crucial flaws” in the gender equality taskforce report.

Their statements to media coincided with a special meeting of NUIG’s Governing Body, which convened to discuss and adopt the final report of the taskforce looking into gender inequality in senior posts at the university, and all its recommendations.

The taskforce, chaired by Professor Jane Grimson of Trinity College, contains 24 recommendations aimed at promoting gender equality at NUIG.

Among the recommendations is that all committees and working groups at the university should have a minimum of 40 per cent of women by the end of this year, and 50 per cent by late 2018. It also recommends that mandatory gender quotas are required to ensure more women are promoted to senior academic posts.

Welcoming the report, NUIG president Dr Jim Browne said: “I look forward to working with all staff, staff representatives and unions in addressing gender equality in a meaningful and serious way. In this way, I expect that NUIG will become a leader in this space.

“We made a commitment a year ago to addressing gender equality across the University with the highest priority. I now want to reiterate this commitment, as our Governing Body adopts this taskforce report and its recommendations.”

He said the appointment of a vice-president for equality and diversity reflects NUIG’s commitment to “transformational change”.

SIPTU, who did not co-operate with the taskforce because of concerns over its independence, has highlighted “crucial flaws” in the report.  SIPTU Equality Committee spokesperson at NUIG Maggie Ronayne said: “We need action not optics. The taskforce and its report are not independent and its focus is too narrow.

“The taskforce was not trusted by staff and students, receiving only 38 original submissions out of a total staff of 2,310 and a student body of over 17,000.  While the report acknowledges that gender inequality is evident across the university, it holds no-one accountable for this. This report is very far from the independent review demanded by SIPTU.

“There are some positive elements in the report. Unfortunately, these are accompanied by many fundamental flaws. It does not tackle the real problems faced by the majority of those working and studying at the university, a majority of whom are women.”

She added: “The report fails to address, in any meaningful way, the discrimination and unfair treatment faced by administrative, general operative and technical staff, academics and others on precarious contracts or casually employed, researchers or students. The few recommendations regarding some of these staff or students are token gestures or misguided proposals which may make matters worse.

“The report proposes actions which may result in more academic women being promoted to senior positions. However, gender quotas are not a long-term solution to the underlying problem of institutional discrimination across all grades of staff. Quotas will not resolve the fundamental, underlying problem of unfair treatment of those with caring responsibilities, a majority of whom are women.”

In its joint statement, IFUT, Students Union and Dr Sheehy Skeffington, said: “With the adoption of the task force recommendations, and the recent appointment of a Vice President for Equality and Diversity to implement them, NUIG management will claim they are putting right the injustice to women at the university for which NUIG has received such bad publicity. This is not true.”

They urge the university to five women who were shortlisted and deemed eligible for promotion to senior lecturer positions in 2008/9 but who, like Dr Sheehy Skeffington, were not promoted.

The joint statement added: “That promotion round was truly appalling for women, being much worse than any other – only one woman was promoted against sixteen men, comprising just 6.7% of the female candidates applying, compared to 50% of male candidates. In addition, while her Equality Tribunal ruling could only directly apply to Dr Sheehy Skeffington, ten of the instances of gender discrimination it cited are also relevant to the five other women shortlisted and not promoted.

“We insist NUIG management ends its intransigence and promotes the five other women. We will continue to jointly campaign for this to happen until NUIG does so.”