Women in history

I completely concur with what my colleagues have written here about the History staffing situation in Australian universities over the past few years.But while the overall situation is dire, some gains have been made, particularly by women in the profession.I therefore want to focus on the more progressive trend towards gender equality that has been apparent for more than two decades, as captured in the two surveys that Martin Crotty and I undertook for the Australian Historical Association and Heads of History.These surveys related to the History staffing profile in Australian universities in 2016 and 2022, with the data and accompanying analysis published in 2019 and 2024. 1 The historical profession in Australia has traditionally been male dominated, reflecting broader inequities in academia, the professions and workplaces in general. 2 Men outnumbered women in History positions in Australia by about seven to one in 1970, and by about 3.5 to one in 1995, with even greater disparities at senior levels. 3Women were thus outnumbered and concentrated in more junior and less secure employment.The data from 2016 revealed that the gender gap in History departments/groupings at Australian universities had significantly narrowed.Women occupied 50 per cent of all History positions and outnumbered men by slightly more than two to one in fellowship positions (70.9 per cent). 4There were only relatively minor differences between the Australian Go8 and non-Go8 sectors.In our analysis of this data, we suggested that the predominance of women in fellowship positions and in postgraduate studies would likely translate into women dominating recruitment for new positions.This has proven to be the case (Figure 1).