Español Gender inequality at the University space. An approach from the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo

Abstract

Gender parity (PG) emerged as a political strategy to respond to inequities among women (M) and men (H) regarding their participation into the public space and leadership positions. It aims to ensure a balanced participation in all areas of society, particularly in decision-making. Within the university, this involves that men and women must have the same opportunities to access any program and academic level, as well positions of popular representation. However, the cultural conception represented and reinforced by stereotypes, still is guiding and limiting the decisions of men and women.  Making these inequities visible is a first step, to later promote strategies that allow the transition to equity. Therefore, the objective of this work was to make a first diagnosis that evidences the inequities on the students (proportions of M and H at different levels of education), cleaning and administrative workers (disaggregated proportions), professors and managerial staff (from the variables of maximum degree of studies and recognitions) in some dependencies of Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH). To do this, through a quantitative approach, a field study was conducted and information was collected from 11 dependencies of the university, for their descriptive and critical analysis. The results show that undergraduate students have a greater participation of women, although the area of engineering is mainly selected by men, this trend is maintained even in postgraduate courses. Areas such as Engineering are masculinized and bachelor´s degree in Letters or Psychology and Administrative Sciences are feminized. In relation to managerial positions, there is a trend towards a greater presence of men with few exceptions in some faculty. This diagnosis is a starting point to propose strategies that allow greater equity among the members of the UMSNH community, which serve as references to make this equity extended to society.