DUBLIN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Only 24 percent of professors in Ireland are female, said a senior Irish official on Monday.
The figure was revealed by the Irish Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O'Connor at an European conference on gender equality in higher education which opened here at Trinity College Dublin.
Improvements of gender equality in the Irish higher education sector in recent years have been "marginal", the minister told some 400 delegates of the conference coming from Ireland and other parts of Europe.
"There still exists a significant lack of representation of women on key decision-making bodies in the institutions and at senior levels of academic staff," she said, adding that institutions must acknowledge the extent of gender inequality in their organizations and take ownership for implementing change.
"They must ensure that any barriers to gender equality are removed for good," said the minister.
Monday's conference is the tenth edition of its kind. The biennial event was first hosted by Finland in 1998. It is the first time that the conference has been held in Ireland.
During the three-day meeting, participants will address the challenges related to the gender equality issues in higher education through plenary and parallel discussions. Topics of the discussions will include bias-free professorial appointments and improving research and innovation through gender diversity.
