Monday 13th May 2013 - Normative gender and images on the walls of rooms

The Higher Education Funding Council for Engalnd (HEFCE) has moved out of its former London offices in the Centreproint Building into an office block near Chancery Lane. I was there today to take part in the appraisal for a research contract HEFCE wishes to place with a consultant.  The offices are bright and airy, with lots of glass partitions giving a feeling of transparency.  There are a lot of decals on the glass, in modern designs. And one wall is decorated with an enlarged photograph of two young students, a male and a female.

Images and decoration make a big difference to work environments.  They help to create the mood of the space, and also say something about the unspoken assumptions of expected behaviour.

On Friday I was on the interview panel for the appointmennt of a chief executive position within higher education. The interveiws took place in a fine modern room in the Enegineering faculty of another university.  The walls of the room were decorated with stunning photographs in which I counted 11 males and only 1 female - and she was apparently a technician being instructed by one of the males.  In one of the breaks between interviews I explored other parts of the building to see how the gender balance of images worked there.  All the pictures (some as oil paintings, others as posters, some as photographs of key staff) were of men.  Finally I spotted a female image on a small poster on a noticeboard - and when I got close I saw it was a picture of a woman with her head in her hands and a message about getting advice from the Counselling Service.  I sympathised with her - in such an apparently male dominated faculty I was not surprised that she might be feeling low.  I am pleased that here in Sheffield Mike Hounslow, with the help of Elena Rodriguez-Falcon and colleagues, is keenly aware of issues around encouraging women in and into Engineering.

But that evening I was sitting next to the newly-elected Student Union Womens' Officer at the annual Union Academic Awards.  The event was taking place in Firth Hall.  I mentioned my experiences that day at the other university and concluded with remarks about our attitude in Engineering here in Sheffield.  But, rightly, she then pointed out that the portraits of former Vice-Chancellors on the walls around us were all of men.