The results of a recent meta analysis demonstrate that women are just as motivated and ambitious as men. Also women are no different from men in terms of mathematical performance, verbal skills and effective leadership 1,2.
Men and women have much more in common than they are different; this is the picture that emerges again and again from meta analyses. And this is true for all characteristics needed for academic success, such as intelligence, leadership, assertiveness, competitiveness and rational thought 3.
A recent meta analysis demonstrates that women are no different from men when it comes to verbal skills and effective leadership 4,5.
Women are, more than men, charged on the one hand with committee work and teaching tasks, and on the other hand with caring tasks. But when the data is adjusted for this factor it becomes apparent that women are just as successful as men 6,7.
Female university lecturers, senior lecturers and professors within the Dutch universities frequently do work full-time. In all these function categories, between 60 and 70 percent of women have a full-time job (according to the definition used by the CBS: more than 34 hours a week). The higher you look up the academic ladder, the percentage of women working part-time declines. The differences in the scope of their function and foreign experience are also limited.
According to a 2008 study at Tilburg University, 8 women scientists are without exception ambitious and passionate about their work. They also state that they work longer hours than their contract stipulates. Moreover, personnel data shows that female scientists work on average just 1.3 hours less than their male colleagues. For fathers and mothers that is 2.5 and 3 hours less. What is also interesting: fathers and mothers publish more than scientists without children 9.
The accepted view that men and women differ in scientific performance is no longer tenable. Female scientists are beginning to outperform male scientists 10,11. This emerged from a study into the differences in research performance between men and women. In this study 1,100 applications were analysed under three financing programmes (Veni, Vici and Open Competition) within the social sciences during the period 2003-2005. The research performances were measured on the basis of the number of publications (productivity) and the number of citations (impact). From these analyses it emerged that within the established generation (the Vici and Open Competition applicants) the male scientists published and were quoted significantly more on average than female scientists. Among the younger generation of scientists (Veni applicants) these differences disappear.
The status of the stereotypical ideas and preconceptions varies: from contentious and out of date to being unjustified. In spite of this, they influence, mostly implicitly and unconsciously, a variety of organisational processes and practices. This leads to men being at an advantage in selection processes and grant procedures 12,13.