Naslov
Women's Career Opportunities in Higher Education Institutions in Croatia: Empirical Evidence

Autori
Pološki, Nina ; Petković, Željka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
2nd International Conference "An Enterprise Odyssey : Building Competitive Advantage" : Proceedings / Galetić, Lovorka - Zagreb : Graduate School of Economics and Business ; Mikrorad, 2004, 1433-1446

ISBN
953-6025-10-8

Skup
International Conference "An Enterprise Odyssey : Building Competitive Advantage" (2 ; 2004)

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 17.06.2004. - 19.06.2004

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
women’ s career; women academics; equal opportunities; perceptions

Sažetak
The purpose of our survey was to identify the career prospects of women at higher education institutions in Croatia. Namely, as Croatia intends to join EU, our equal opportunities policies should be on the same level. More to it, characteristics and development of women academic’ s career are rarely explored. Our main hypothesis was that women’ s career opportunities in higher education institutions in Croatia are significantly greater than of the women academics in EU. The argument for our hypothesis was that the socialistic heritage in Croatia still results in higher equality of women in all working spheres. For instance, it is well known that Croatian women are equally paid as men, which is not the situation in western countries. Our study had as well three additional hypotheses concerning equal opportunities of women academics in Croatia. First one was that women who work at higher education institutions think that they are not discriminated, in other words, that they have the same career opportunities as men. Second one was that they are positive about their career prospects no matter of their individual demographic characteristics. Third one was that they perceive that their career opportunities are much greater comparing to career prospects of an average working woman in Croatian. To support or reject the stated hypotheses, two data gathering methods were utilized in the study. Firstly, secondary research of available statistical data concerning women in academia was conducted. Secondly, we conducted a questionnaire survey among women academics at the University of Zagreb (The response rate was 51.85%. Final sample consisted of 42 women academics.), and we compared the obtained results with the findings of a representative study conducted at one British university. Both macro and micro indicators imply that the position of women in academia in Croatia is significantly better comparing to their counterparts in EU. For example, only 15% of observed EU countries have greater percentage of women who are full professors than Croatia has. As well, only 31% of them have greater percentage of women associate professors. Perceptions of Croatian women academics (micro indicators) as well supported the first hypothesis. Their perceptions resulted in only 30% of negative indicators of women equality, comparing to 70% of negative indicators among UK women. Remaining hypotheses were as well accepted. Croatian women in academia have positive perceptions about their career prospects comparing to man no matter of their demographic characteristics. Quite the opposite, they perceive that the average Croatian woman is not so equally treated. Although women in some spheres of working life, as this study showed, are on the same ground as men, for the majority of them, many barriers exist. Mainly, barriers that prevent women from being equally represented in the labor force, that should be overcame, are: prejudices about women’ s status and role in the society, cultural prejudices, unfavorable formal education policies and organizational obstacles.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

POVEZANOST RADA