Gender quotas were used to select the members of AU’s new gender equality committee

The committee will be chaired by the rector. The pro-rector will serve as vice-chair. The other members of the senior management team’s new diversity and gender equality committee include Anne Lindholm Behnk, deputy university director for AU HR as well as two representatives from each faculty. One of the faculty reps must be a head of department/school and the other must be a member of academic staff – and each faculty must contribute both a man and a woman.

Associate professor of physiology Ebbe Bødtkjer is the male representative from Health. The dean tapped him on the shoulder, and he agreed to serve because he wants to contribute to better gender balance in recruitment at AU.

What would you like to see done for gender equality at AU?

“I’d like to see us get to a position of choosing people based on their qualifications. Not necessarily because most people have a desire to make a biased choice. But gender does play a role, and it can lead us to unconsciously choose someone of the gender we traditionally believe is a good fit. But I’m not a proponent of introducing a quota system here, for example, because I actually don’t believe that that’s a step in the direction of focussing on qualifications,” Bødtkjer says, and adds that he prefers to save his concrete proposals for the first meeting of the committee on 1 July. 

You state yourself that you’re not a proponent of quotas. Do you think it’s a good idea that the gender equality committee requires equal gender representation?

“I think it’s fine, actually. Of course, you’re right that it’s actually a bit contrary to what I just said about quotas. But the committee’s task is to promote and consider the different points of view, and in that case it can make good sense to have a relatively broad representation.” 

If it had been your decision to make, would you also have required one man and one woman per faculty?

“I haven’t really thought about it. Those were the conditions, and I wanted to contribute to the committee,” Bødtkjer says.

­

Members of the committee

Each faculty has appointed one man and one woman – an academic staff representative and a head of department/school – to sit on the committee:

From Arts:

• Professor Dorthe Staunæs from Danish School of Education
• Head of School Bjarke Paarup, School of Culture and Society 

From Aarhus BSS:

• Associate Professor Natalie Munkholm, Department of Law
• Head of Department Jacob K. Eskildsen, Department of Management

From Health:

• Associate Professor Ebbe Bødtkjer, Department of Biomedicine
• Head of Department Siri Beier Jensen, Department of Dentistry and Oral Health

From ST:

• Professor Klaus Mølmer, Department of Physics and Astronomy
• Head of Department Michelle H. Williams, Department of Food Science

In addition, the rector, pro-rector and deputy director for AU HR Anne Lindholm Behnk serve on the committee.