Reducing gender inequalities in ECPR publications
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Reducing gender inequalities in ECPR publications Kris Deschouwer1 Published online: 14 April 2020 © European Consortium for Political Research 2020
When in 1970 the European Consortium for Political Research was set up, it was a strictly male affair. All those who were involved in the discussions about the need to create in Europe an organization that could give political science on that continent the boost that it needed, were men. The first Executive Committee of the ECPR was also homogenously male. And when a few years later—in 1973—the ECPR’s journal was launched—the European Journal for Political Research—the chosen editor was a man. In the Executive Committee a first female member was elected in 1979, but until 2003 there were never more than two women (on a total of twelve members) and until 2018 no more than three. The European Journal for Political Research remained in the hands of male editors until 2003, when Ingrid van Biezen became one of the editors of the Political Data Yearbook and in 2017, when Sofia Vasilopoulou became one of the editors of the journal. European Political Science started in 2001 with one male editor, soon joined by a second one, and all replaced by men until in 2009, when Jacqui Briggs joined the team. The European Political Science Review started off in 2009 with a gender-balanced duo, and in 2018 the newest journal Political Research Exchange was launched with two women as editors: Alexandra Segerberg and Simona Guerra. This looks like some improvement in the recent years, but there is still quite some work to be done. The ECPR is of course a child of its time. The male dominance in almost all aspects of the organization reflects the society in which it was created and in which it further developed, and it also reflects the lack of gender balance in political science as a scientific community. That is an explanation, but not a great excuse for a discipline that should be very much aware of the way in which power functions and how inequalities are created and reproduced. One cannot say that the awareness of this lack of gender balance was very high until quite recently. A first and important step was the decision to systematically gather data. In 2016, ECPR published its first Gender Study. It looked at the number of men and women at all levels and in all corners of the ECPR; that included the participants at major events such as the Joint Sessions, the General Conference, and the Methods School, the instructors and academic conveners of the * Kris Deschouwer [email protected] 1
Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium Vol.:(0123456789)
412 K. Deschouwer
Methods School, the workshop directors at the Joint Sessions, the section chairs at the General Conference, the speakers at plenary events, the chairs and participants in roundtables, the winners of the several Prizes awarded by the ECPR, the Official Representatives, the staff and the members of the Executive Committee. For the ECPR publications the Gender Study
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