Why it is indeed a good idea from TU Eindhoven

TU Eindhoven is stepping up. They have made it a policy for years to increase their quota of female professors (they set target percentages, ensured that there were at least two women on the committee that appointed professors, and so on), but that helped little. Too little. In the Netherlands, we are embarrassingly far behind in the number of female professors, and as you can probably imagine, the number of women at technical universities is close to the floor, so low is it.

So what did the, by the way, male rector magnificus come up with: we have many vacancies (150, hooray) and we are only going to hire women for those. At least, for the first six months, only women may apply. If no suitable candidate is found by then, the gate will open for men.

For some, the flag was raised, for others, the lid of the jar of sour was turned. It was taken from the pot. And now men were being discriminated against. And oh yes, there would no longer be a focus on suitability but only, or primarily, on gender. Well. Well, well, I don't think the selection committee would even invite me for an interview with my humanities degree. Do they really have to explain that they want a woman with a CV that fits the job description? That seems quite plausible to me, right?

I sat down to think about it, because I also believe that women are equal to men. Just as good (at least), just as fun (likewise), just as pretty and just as smart. In that respect, you would say that we wouldn't need that head start because hey, we are so capable, right?

But the reality is a bit different. First of all, we have a different history (the period when we are allowed to work after getting married and manage our own salary is not that long), which makes others see us differently (men are more likely to be considered suitable for management positions) and above all, we see ourselves differently. We doubt. Can we really do this? What if they realize that we can't do anything? If we meet four out of five requirements, we drop out because we think we fall short on one point. A man will think: I am the right person in the right place.

So we still need that little push. Not just us, our society does too. We need to change the perception. We are being overtaken by other European countries where many more women hold decisive positions. And then it will be a little less inclusive for men. For half a year. They will also know how it feels. There.