IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v7y2019i1p90-100.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equal Access to the Top? Measuring Selection into Finnish Academia

Author

Listed:
  • Jouni Helin

    (Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

  • Kristian Koerselman

    (Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä / Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

  • Terhi Nokkala

    (Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

  • Timo Tohmo

    (Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

  • Jutta Viinikainen

    (Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

Abstract

In this article, we draw a parallel between equality of opportunity in educational transitions and equality of opportunity in academic careers. In both cases, many methodological problems can be ameliorated by the use of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data. We illustrate this point by using Finnish full-population register data to follow the educational and academic careers of the 1964–1966 birth cohorts from birth to the present day. We show how the Finnish professoriate is highly selected both in terms of parental background and in terms of gender. Individuals of different backgrounds differ greatly in the likelihood of completing different educational and academic transitions, but much less in the age at which they make these transitions. By contrast, women’s academic careers differ from those of men both in terms of timing and in terms of rates, with women’s PhDs and full professorships seemingly delayed compared to those of men. We additionally show with the help of a 2015 cross-section of Finnish professors how such differences are easily overlooked in cross-sectional data.

Suggested Citation

  • Jouni Helin & Kristian Koerselman & Terhi Nokkala & Timo Tohmo & Jutta Viinikainen, 2019. "Equal Access to the Top? Measuring Selection into Finnish Academia," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 90-100.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v7:y:2019:i:1:p:90-100
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v7i1.1620
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/1620
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v7i1.1620?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pleun Arensbergen & Inge van der Weijden & Peter Besselaar, 2012. "Gender differences in scientific productivity: a persisting phenomenon?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 857-868, December.
    2. Epple, Dennis & Newlon, Elizabeth & Romano, Richard, 2002. "Ability tracking, school competition, and the distribution of educational benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 1-48, January.
    3. Rómulo Pinheiro & Lars Geschwind & Hanne Foss Hansen & Elias Pekkola, 2015. "Academic Leadership in the Nordic Countries: Patterns of Gender Equality," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Helena Desivilya Syna & Carmen-Eugenia Costea (ed.), Women’s Voices in Management, chapter 2, pages 15-33, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Christine Wennerås & Agnes Wold, 1997. "Nepotism and sexism in peer-review," Nature, Nature, vol. 387(6631), pages 341-343, May.
    5. Pezzoni, Michele & Sterzi, Valerio & Lissoni, Francesco, 2012. "Career progress in centralized academic systems: Social capital and institutions in France and Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 704-719.
    6. Marc Goulden & Mary Ann Mason & Karie Frasch, 2011. "Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 638(1), pages 141-162, November.
    7. Boring, Anne, 2017. "Gender biases in student evaluations of teaching," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 27-41.
    8. Michele Pezzoni & Valerio Sterzi & Francesco Lissoni, 2012. "Career progress in centralized academic systems: an analysis of French and Italian physicists," Post-Print hal-00779470, HAL.
    9. Heine Andersen, 2001. "The norm of universalism in sciences. Social origin and gender of researchers in Denmark," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 50(2), pages 255-272, February.
    10. Maria De Paola & Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2017. "Gender differences in the propensity to apply for promotion: evidence from the Italian Scientific Qualification," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 986-1009.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gaële Goastellec & Jussi Välimaa, 2019. "Access to Higher Education: An Instrument for Fair Societies?," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jouni Helin & Kristian Koerselman & Terhi Nokkala & Timo Tohmo & Jutta Viinikainen, 2019. "Equal Access to the Top? Measuring Selection into Finnish Academia," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 90-100.
    2. Tahereh Dehdarirad & Anna Villarroya & Maite Barrios, 2015. "Research on women in science and higher education: a bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(3), pages 795-812, June.
    3. Hottenrott, Hanna & Lawson, Cornelia, 2014. "Flying the nest: How the home department shapes researchers’ career paths," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201409, University of Turin.
    4. Peter van den Besselaar & Ulf Sandström, 2016. "Gender differences in research performance and its impact on careers: a longitudinal case study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(1), pages 143-162, January.
    5. Friederike Mengel & Jan Sauermann & Ulf Zölitz, 2019. "Gender Bias in Teaching Evaluations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 535-566.
    6. Michał Krawczyk & Magdalena Smyk, 2015. "Gender, beauty and support networks in academia: evidence from a field experiment," Working Papers 2015-43, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    7. Lisa Geraci & Steve Balsis & Alexander J. Busch Busch, 2015. "Gender and the h index in psychology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 2023-2034, December.
    8. Catherine Eckel & Lata Gangadharan & Philip J. Grossman & Nina Xue, 2021. "The gender leadership gap: insights from experiments," Chapters, in: Ananish Chaudhuri (ed.), A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics, chapter 7, pages 137-162, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Tóth, Tamás & Demeter, Márton & Csuhai, Sándor & Major, Zsolt Balázs, 2024. "When career-boosting is on the line: Equity and inequality in grant evaluation, productivity, and the educational backgrounds of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions individual fellows in social sciences an," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    10. Rivera León, Lorena & Mairesse, Jacques & Cowan, Robin, 2017. "Gender Gaps and Scientific Productivity in Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8243, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. Loarne-Lemaire, Séverine Le & Bertrand, Gaël & Razgallah, Meriam & Maalaoui, Adnane & Kallmuenzer, Andreas, 2021. "Women in innovation processes as a solution to climate change: A systematic literature review and an agenda for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    12. Bukstein, Daniel & Gandelman, Néstor, 2019. "Glass ceilings in research: Evidence from a national program in Uruguay," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1550-1563.
    13. Bransch, Felix & Kvasnicka, Michael, 2022. "Male Gatekeepers: Gender Bias in the Publishing Process?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 714-732.
    14. Matthias Kuppler, 2022. "Predicting the future impact of Computer Science researchers: Is there a gender bias?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6695-6732, November.
    15. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2019. "Gender gaps in the evaluation of research: evidence from submissions to economics conferences (Updated March 2020)," Working Papers 1918, Banco de España, revised Mar 2020.
    16. Emre Özel, 2024. "What is Gender Bias in Grant Peer review?," Working Papers halshs-03862027, HAL.
    17. Lorena Rivera León & Jacques Mairesse & Robin Cowan, 2017. "Gender Gaps and Scientific Productivity in Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 98456, Inter-American Development Bank.
    18. Marine Bernard & Bastien Bernela & Marie Ferru, 2021. "Does the geographical mobility of scientists shape their collaboration network? A panel approach of chemists’ careers," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 79-99, February.
    19. Karen L. Webber & Manuel González Canché, 2018. "Is There a Gendered Path to Tenure? A Multi-State Approach to Examine the Academic Trajectories of U.S. Doctoral Recipients in the Sciences," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(7), pages 897-932, November.
    20. Borenstein, Denis & Perlin, Marcelo S. & Imasato, Takeyoshi, 2022. "The Academic Inbreeding Controversy: Analysis and Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v7:y:2019:i:1:p:90-100. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.