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I was somewhat confused by the claim that professorial posts "elude" women, and the quote that a "glass ceiling effect is still evident"

("Sex parity 50 years off", January 19).

According to the figures you published, about 35 per cent of recent appointments to chairs have been women. This fraction is in quite close proportion to the gender balance of lecturers in post before 2000, who presumably form the main pool from which these appointments have been made, so the playing field at this level would appear to be reasonably flat.

This equity contrasts with the situation you described at lecturing level, where the number of men being employed is in sharp decline. Why wasn't academia's worrying failure to attract and retain suitably qualified male lecturing staff the headline?

Michael Merrifield
Nottingham University