Too few female academics

Canterbury's universities still have a long way to go to improve their numbers of senior female academics, the Human Rights Commission says.

Women now make up 8.22 per cent of professors at Canterbury University compared to 6.15 per cent in 2005 and 3.33 per cent in 2003.

Just over 20 per cent of associate professorships are now occupied by women, a major jump from the 2005 figure of just 6.41 per cent.

Lincoln University now has women in 9.4 per cent of its professor positions, compared with 5 per cent two years ago, and 20 per cent are associate professors compared with 5.88 per cent in 2005.

Equal Employment Opportunities commissioner Judy McGregor.

said the figures showed progress was slow, but steady.

"We are delighted that Canterbury and Lincoln are taking seriously the need to recruit and promote women into senior roles, but there's still a long way to go," she said.

Canterbury University vice chancellor Roy Sharp said the university culture in the past made it hard for women.

"That's what I was told and that's why I set up the equity and advisory committee. It's a question of changing the culture of an organisation."

Sharp said attention was also being focused on the low percentages of Maori and Pacific staff.

In 2005, Maori made up just 1.8 per cent and Pacific .6 per cent of academic staff. Those numbers have improved slightly to sit at 3.5 per cent and .9 per cent, respectively.

"I think it will take time and there's nothing you can do to hurry it in a way because you can't appoint people who are not the best for the job," Sharp said.

"The situation has improved a lot, but that doesn't mean we can't and won't improve further."

Canterbury University Pacific student adviser Liz Keneti would like to see more Pacific staff at the university.

"Academia is not a traditional career path for Pacific people so they do need to be steered," she said.

Lincoln University does not measure the ethnicity of its staff.

Environment, Society and Design Development divisional director Stefanie Rixecker said because Lincoln was a small institution, it was easy to keep track of its ethnic mix and it had many international academics.

The university had faced challenges in the past promoting women to senior academic positions, she said.

"Traditionally, we have been focused on agriculture so there's been an historical time lag for women moving up the ranks."

Lincoln was looking to balance its gender issues as positions became available.

"We have some catching up to do and we could and should be doing better."