Following International Women¡¯s Day (8 March), bloggers took to the web to discuss gender equality in higher education.

¡°Giving women in academia genuine equal opportunities¡± was one such example, penned by Ingrid Robeyns, professor in practical philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and posted on the .

¡°I¡¯m not talking about affirmative action or quota, but rather making¡­the environment more welcoming to women, the formal practices fairer to women, and the informal practices such that they are less disadvantageous for women,¡± she writes.

¡°I increasingly encounter academics (mostly men, I fear) who think that there are no further issues with the environment/procedures/practices, and who believe that in reality women now get better chances in academia than men.¡±

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This is not so, Professor Robeyns says, highlighting a number of areas in which women are at a disadvantage in the academy.

¡°One cause is the effects of implicit bias,¡± she says, ¡°which implies that if a piece of work is being done by women, it will be judged [to be] of lower quality than exactly the same piece of work done by men, due to non- conscious associations we hold.¡±

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Similarly, certain personality traits are judged positively if seen in a man, and less positively if seen in a woman, she writes. ¡°A typical case is being assertive, which is in men seen as a sign of leadership, but in women quickly interpreted as being aggressive.¡±

There will be no improvement in women¡¯s position in academia, she adds, ¡°if academics in positions of power and authority¡­will not fully understand the workings of implicit bias, including some of the empirical research that documents implicit bias.¡±

Women also encounter networking and mentoring problems in academia, her blog continues. ¡°Due to the fact that there are many more senior male academics than senior female academics (supervisors, lecturers, professors, it is much harder for a young female academic to find a mentor of the same sex.¡±

Another problem with fields of study in which there are only a handful of women is that they are asked to serve on all committees, ¡°since it is in itself a good thing to have more gender-balanced committees¡±, Professor Robeyns continues.

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¡°But if you only have 10%-15% female full professors¡­then it means that [they] will be called upon much more to serve on committees, giving them less time for their teaching and research¡­Virtually every female professor I¡¯ve discussed this with has the same experience.¡±

Molly Shoichet, professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto, used the to write a post entitled ¡°For International Women¡¯s Day: What every girl should know about a science career¡±.

In it, she highlights how enjoyable her own work is, and urges female students to give serious consideration to a science career.

¡°I am very excited to be pursuing a career in science because every day I go to work and learn something new,¡± she says. ¡°Every day we advance knowledge and gain new insights. By designing new approaches and gaining new insights, we aim to advance knowledge towards clinical application.¡±

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