A dedicated recruitment effort, supported by Genie, has greatly increased the number of women at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. An investment in the working environment, research, and education, says Head of Department Richard Torkar – who has received criticism and praise for the initiative.
“It's easy to talk. But changing academia's sometimes absurd system requires new priorities and money on the table," he says.
The goal was clear and obvious. When Richard Torkar took on the position as Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) in 2021, his priority was to address the gender imbalance in the workplace.
"Much research indicates that research teams that are more diverse perform better. In addition, we see that the proportion of women in undergraduate education and among our students in doctoral programmes is increasing, and our staff needs to reflect this reality. We really need more female role models for our students and young researchers! Therefore, we must dare to invest in recruiting promising women," he says.
He saw a strength in the department's multicultural environment: among CSE's approximately 300 employees, more than 50 different nationalities are represented. However, the fact that barely two out of ten employees were women seemed unacceptable.
"This is a consequence of laziness and convenience in recruitment: as humans have a herd behaviour and choose those who are most like us. However, the disadvantages of overly homogeneous teams are obvious. If we gather the same types of people, who think in the same way and are a product of the same environments, then the research work is obviously affected. It is also important for the working environment to recruit people who complement each other as much as possible. Therefore, gender balance is important for both research and the work environment," he says.
More applicants and better offers
Richard Torkar was clear about what he wanted to achieve and involved the faculty in the process. An important key was to better publish the advertised positions to attract more female applicants.
"I stated that my goal was not to hire more men and that the faculty has an important role to play in finding more competent women through all the contacts around the world. At first, many people distanced themselves from me and thought I was taking an extreme position. I replied that we were in an extreme situation," he says.
But spreading adverts is not enough if research conditions and work environment are not good enough. This is where Chalmers' gender equality initiative Genie came in. With money from Genie, the department was able to offer good employment packages with a lot of research time assigned to the positions, and the opportunity to employ postdocs and doctoral students in the research projects.
"Thanks to Genie, we can offer world-class packages. I think this is a key to recruiting these women who are extremely attractive in the market. The day Genie does not exist anymore, my degrees of freedom as Head of Department will be greatly reduced. We need to be able to put money on the table and invest," he says.
Changing attitudes after successful recruitments
Change provokes reactions, and in this case, the new recruitment strategy represented a major transformation of previous priorities and working methods. Richard Torkar was prepared to face resistance and says that the support of Chalmers’ President at that time, Stefan Bengtsson, was important in implementing the initiative.
"I told Stefan that he would hear a lot of criticism and reactions. He did –- but he was fully behind me. And just over a year into the initiative, something happened in the faculty. Everyone saw that we had managed to recruit excellent researchers thanks to very good packages, and this stopped the criticism. In addition, all new employees have been very good at raising their own money. It is a step forward, which leads to a tangible change in attitude," he says.
Two years into the initiative, a lot has happened to the gender balance in the department. From having no female Assistant professors or Associate lecturers at all, the department has recruited seven women, which means that there are now more than 50 per cent women at that level. The proportion of female Associate lecturers has increased from 40 to 66 per cent, and for Assistant professors the figure has gone from 30 to 40 per cent.
"With senior researchers, such as Professors, it is unfortunately much more difficult. The fact that for a long time, we have had 19 male Professors and only two female Professors is frightening. Therefore, it is important to build from the bottom up, because even with hard work for two years we have not been lucky enough to recruit a female Professor, but several visiting Professors. We have also recruited very promising researchers, and they are the Professors and leaders of the future," he says.
Calls for a holistic approach to recruitment
Richard Torkar emphasises that a more even gender balance benefits research, education and the work environment, but he does not think this is valued in academia's recruitment system. He sees many problems with today's meritocratic system, where measurements of various merits should be indicative.
"When we only look at things like publications, citations and how much money the candidate has raised, we end up with an extremely monotonous system that mainly favours men. It is often extremely equal between candidates, so even that it is not possible to see any differences. Then I argue that we should choose the candidate who is in the minority, which is usually a woman, and we also have a decision from the President on that. But that is not the case. Instead, a small millimeter difference is eventually found in the merit system, in favour of men. Then the meritocracy has been taken to an absurd extreme. We must take a holistic approach when we make our appointments," he says.
More about gender distribution at Chalmers
• In 2018, 17 per cent of Chalmers' Professors were women, which was the lowest proportion among Sweden´s universities. By the end of 2023, the proportion of female Professors at Chalmers will be 20 per cent.
• In 2018, 29 per cent of Chalmers' faculty were women. By the end of 2023, the proportion is 32 per cent.
• With support from Genie, several recruitments of female researchers have been made 2019-2023, including 15 Postdocs, three doctoral students, one Associate professor, three Professors, one Assistant professor and 16 visiting researchers. The recruitment of nine female Assistant professors means that the gender distribution among Assistant professors at Chalmers is now 50/50.
More about Genie's recruitment goals
Chalmers' gender equality initiative Genie runs from 2019 to 2029 and has a budget of SEK 300 million. The goal of Genie is in two parts. Firstly, the initiative will work with cultural changes, create an inclusive work environment and remove structural obstacles that affect women's careers. Secondly, the initiative aims to increase the proportion of women in the faculty to 40 per cent at all levels.
- Head of Department, Computer Science and Engineering