The TU Eindhoven has the lowest share of female university professors in the Netherlands. To remedy this, the university will only be hiring women for academic positions for the coming one-and-a-half years.

Calling all female academics

In the coming years, the university anticipates having to fill 150 jobs and hopes to be able to give a great number of these to women. If after six months a vacancy is still open and there is no suitable female candidate, the vacancy will be opened up to men. Via the Irène Curie Fellowship, the women recruited will receive 100.000 euros for research and a mentor. Furthermore, the fellowship will run for a term of five years.

The call for female academics only will begin from July 1 and it is hoped that by next year the share of female professors at the institution will have increased to 20 percent (last year it was 12,6 percent). This is not to say that the share is not already growing, it was a mere 5,7 percent in 2011, but it is, “too slow”, says Rector Magnificus of TU Eindhoven Frank Baaijens.

Is this discrimination?

According to Baaijens, the university in Eindhoven has been taking measures to attract women for years. “And it has been known for some time that a diverse workforce functions better. It leads to better strategies, more creative ideas and faster innovation.”

The latest measure- only hiring women- has been reviewed against European legislation and does not constitute discrimination. In fact, it allows the university to expressly hire women as this group is underrepresented.