A 2011 audit of 77 political science institution websites found that women make up just over 30 per cent of the political science academic workforce in the UK. While a minority, women have made sustained progress in their numbers from a mere 10 per cent of political scientists in the UK in 1978. While there were comparable numbers of women and men in teaching/research fellows positions (figure 1), men outnumbered women in the other categories. This means (as shown in figure 2) that the a quarter of all women political scientists are in teaching/research fellow positions and just over a tenth of all men political scientists men are, while only 12 per cent of women political scientists are professors but 29 per cent of men political scientists are. (Bates, Jenkins & Pflaeger, 2012, p.141).
Figure 1. Distribution of academic appointments in political science, UK, by position and gender, 2011
Source: Bates, Jenkins & Pflaeger (2012, p. 141).
Figure 2. Job title by percentage of total male or female political scientists, UK, 2011
Source: Bates, Jenkins & Pflaeger (2012, p. 142).
The AdvanceHE Report for 2018 gives the proportion of women in academic staff in political science as nearly 30 per cent. The underlying data from the Equity Challenge Unit shows that 23 per cent of professorial appointments are women (an increase from the Society for Women data in 2011), and 31 per cent of all other appointments are women.
Figure 2. Proportion of women in political science at professor/not professor level, 2018
Source: Underlying HESA data used by Advance HE, Equality + higher education: Staff statistical report 2018, available at Advance HE website, accessed January 2019.
The International Political Science Association (IPSA) monitors women’s engagement in political science associations. Read more ...
Reference
AdvanceHE (2018) Equality + Higher Education Staff Statistical Report.
Stephen Bates, Laura Jenkins, and Zoe Pflaeger, Z. (2012). Women in the Profession: The Composition of UK Political Science Departments by Sex, Politics, 32(3), 139-152.
UK PSA Women in Politics Specialist Group