Oldal 61 [61]
WHAT IS BEHIND THE ACADEMIC ELECTION?
Between Scylla and Charybdis: Female quotas or natural but slow change
that might take decades?
——o—
Come then goddess, answer me truthfully this:
is there some way for me to escape away
from deadly Charybdis,
but yet fight the other one off,
when she attacks my companions?)®
When the researcher’s attention is brought to the membership of the Hungar¬
ian Academy of Sciences (MTA), it is first and foremost the unusually high
degree of disproportion of the sexes that attracts one’s attention. While in
2004 among the regular and correspondent members the percentage of men
was 96%, in 2014 it is 93.2%. Therefore — as in other spheres — the ratio of
women in leading positions in science and academia, compared to their edu¬
cational performance is changing at a snail’s pace,!% even though today it is
obvious that men are not any more competent in fulfilling these roles than
women." We can conclude that among the academics of the MTA the quali¬
fication of women has for a long time widely exceeded the requirements of
becoming a member. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive represen¬
tation of the Hungarian aspects of academic membership for women, based
on the contribution of valuable insight from researchers and academics while
also listing the possible opportunities and tools that might be of help for rais¬
ing the proportion of female academics in our country.
The indicators chiselled by facts and the graphs give us reason for alarm,
not only when we take the model years, but even more if we take a look to the
West. In Hungary the ratio of women in higher education represents over 50%
of university degree holders and 35% of doctorates. It is an indisputable fact
that if this is not only not reflected in Academy membership, but women’s
membership proportion does not rise to more than a meagre 7%, there are
clearly some serious social and other reasons behind the phenomenon.
165 Homer: Odyssey.
166 IIlésné Lukács et al., Grébics, guoted in Hadas: Az MTA és a férfiuralom, 1391.
167 Ibidem.