Only one in three Flemish professors is a woman
Only one third of professors and visiting professors at Flemish universities were women in the 2024–2025 academic year, according to figures published on Tuesday by Statistiek Vlaanderen. This gender imbalance may shift over time, however, as the proportion of men and women among doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers is now broadly equal.
Of the nearly 30,800 full-time positions offered by Flemish universities, around half are held by women. Female staff are particularly well represented in administrative and technical roles, where they account for 65 per cent of positions, and among assistants, where women make up 56 per cent.
At the highest academic ranks, however, the picture remains markedly different: 66 per cent of professors are men. While universities are undergoing a gradual rebalancing between men and women, this change has yet to be reflected at professorial level, which continues to be dominated by men.
University staff profiles are also strikingly young. Around one third of all university employees are under the age of 30, mainly doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers, 57 per cent of whom fall into this age group. Among assistants, 42 per cent are under 30.
By contrast, almost half of all professors are over 50, with the remainder largely over 30. Only a small fraction of today’s early-career researchers will ultimately secure a professorship. At present, just 13 per cent of all researchers hold a chair.
European trend
A similar picture emerges in the Netherlands. At the end of 2024, women made up 29.9 per cent of professors at Dutch universities, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared with the previous year. This brings the country close to the symbolic 30 per cent threshold, often seen as the critical mass required for deeper and more durable institutional change. The figures come from the latest Monitor published by the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH).
Taken together, the data underline that gender inequality at the top of academia remains a structural challenge across north-western Europe, even as gender balance improves at earlier career stages. Differences between countries remain pronounced. Norway and Sweden already exceed 35 per cent female professors, while several southern European countries continue to lag behind, with women accounting for less than 20 per cent of professorial posts.
#FlandersNewsService | Picture shows the parade 'stoet der togati' with university faculty professors wearing their academic gowns during the opening of the academic year 2021-2022 of the KU Leuven. © BELGA PHOTO INE GILLIS