There is an interesting article in the Guardian of direct relevance to the ADVANCE program.  Entitled “Women in academia: what does it take to reach the top?” – it is an article by Carol Black and Asiya Islam – two prominent UK female academics.  And it is a sort of follow up on a call published last week from Cambridge University academics criticizing how Cambridge appoints staff as being biased against women. 

The article gives their personal point of view relative to the Cambridge letter and in regards to the struggles many women have in advancing their scholarly careers even when their scholarship is excellent. 

I call attention in particular to the last sentence”

No matter how much women promote themselves and learn confidence through training courses, the only way the current shocking scarcity of women in higher positions can change is through eliminating systemic and structural bias in policies and procedures that favours white men.

Hat tip to Rachel Armstrong on Twitter for pointing me to this article.

Women in academia: what does it take to reach the top? http://t.co/Gz7MXuUBKZ via @guardian

— Rachel Armstrong (@livingarchitect) February 25, 2014