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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 Hungarian 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 educational 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 qualification of women has for a long time widely exceeded the requirements of becoming a member. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive representation 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 raising 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.
