Gender is as Gendered Does? From Macro-Structures to Micro-Experiences of Gender Discrimination in Higher Education in Ireland: Evaluating and Resolving Equality Policy Deficits

This paper examines the status of female academics in Ireland from a comparative perspective, covering the macro-level of Societal Structures of Gendered Beliefs and Practices, the meso-level of the aggregate student body, i.e. the proportion of female graduates progression to PhD / postdoc levels and promotion prospects as academic staff, and the micro-level of female academics’ lived experiences that are deeply affected by cultural factors, covering a range of subtle but pervasive gender expectations that sediment during high school and college years. National and European level data are interrogated and compared with US data across all three levels of analysis. The paper evaluates the goals and aims of diversity policies in universities in Ireland against measurements of female academics’ day-to-day lived experiences of gender discrimination practices. To address the mismatch between practices and policy deficits, the paper proposes radical "confidence gap" and "trauma chasm" responses to address fundamental psycho-social factors of gender discrimination. The results hold significant theoretical and empirical value for all stakeholders: State Education Authorities, employers, government policy makers, the economy and wider society, and the graduate-academics themselves.