In 2013 the Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) commissioned a report on historical trends in the equity survey data collected from philosophy departments over the past two decades. The report found significant improvements in gender balance throughout the ranks of tenure and tenure-track academic staff over the past two decades. The proportion of women in the discipline in Canada has seen an increase from 12.7 per cent in 1991, 22.45 per cent in 2001-02 and 31.2 per cent in 2011. Despite these positive changes, women represent just 21.6 per cent of all full professorship positions, but this is still a significant increase since 2000-01 when women accounted for 10 per cent of professor ranks. These changes have been primarily attributed to a contraction in professorial positions brought about by the retirement of mostly male professors. The share of women sessional instructors was estimated at 20.97 per cent. This represented a significant decline from the 36.9 per cent of women in these lower ranked positions recorded in 2001. This suggests that while there has been some ground gained by women in tenure track positions, opportunities for young women academics through lower level positions, such as sessional instructors, have seen an important contraction (Doucet & Beaulac, 2013).
Figure 1. Distribution of academic appointments in philosophy by position and gender, 2010-11
Source: Doucet & Beaulac with Jordan (2013), p. 4.
Figure 2. Proportion of women in academic appointments in philosophy by position and year, 2000-01, 2010-11
Source: Doucet & Beaulac with Jordan (2013), p. 4.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers /Association canadienne des professeures et professeurs d’université (CAUT/ACPPU) reports in its 2013–14 Almanac of Post-Secondary Education in Canada that in 2010-11, 29 per cent of full-time academic staff in university history departments across Canada were women. These figures include lecturers (31 per cent) and assistant (35 per cent), associate (31 per cent), and full professors (20per cent). More recent statistics published by CAUT do not go down to the disciplinary level. CAUT first published data for gender distribution in 2004, for the period 2000-2001.
Figure 1. Full-time Canadian University Teachers by Subject, Rank & Gender, 2000-2011, Philosophy
Source: Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), Almanac of Post-Secondary Education in Canada, 2004; 2008-09; 2013–14.
Reference
Mathieu Doucet and Guillaume Beaulac with Shelly Jordan. (2013). Report on the CPA Equity Survey: Historical Trends. Canadian Philosophical Association.