Gender hierarchies in high-ranking Chilean and Colombian universities

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Breaking Barriers: Formal and Community Education Efforts to Support the Rights of Women and Girls in Latin America

Proposal

While the number of women pursuing higher education in Chile and Colombia has increased, women remain concentrated in lower echelons of academic professions and struggle to access university leadership positions. This paper’s aim is to study gender hierarchies within high-ranking Chilean and Colombian universities—two public, the Universidad de Chile and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and two private, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Universidad de los Andes. To examine gender segregation, we employ Sandra Acker’s (1999) concept of “gender script” as a theoretical framework. We analyze the gender segregation of faculty and leadership appointments across disciplines, academic positions, educational attainment, and types of contracts. Findings show that despite the existence of policies addressing gender gaps in these universities, the patterns of gender hierarchy reveal structural challenges that hinder women's ability to reach high-ranking leadership and participate in research. More men have access to research-intensive positions while women remain concentrated in teaching positions in all four universities. The cases of Chile and Colombia exemplify why current policies focused solely on increasing the number of women do not effectively close the gender gap. Further development of gender parity strategies is necessary to address the pervasive power asymmetries that hinder women’s career advancement in academia.

Authors

• Regina Cortina, Teachers College Columbia University

• Jonathan Beltran Alvarado

• Sara M. Pan Algarra, Columbia University Teachers College

• Nina Yacher, Teachers College, Columbia U