ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the evidence to support the argument that women academics are disadvantaged in terms of pay and promotion prospects, analyses the position of women academics, and assesses the short-term prospects of their situation improving. In June 1996 the Higher Education Statistics Agency published the first set of data through which all the universities and colleges of Higher Education in the United Kingdom could be compared. Since its inception the Research Assessment Exercise has played an increasingly dominant role in the determination of academic staff’s promotion and, therefore, career prospects. The statistics pertaining to the LSE were subdivided into two groups, one of which informed the tribunal of the gender division of staff in the whole School, and the other dealt only with the Economic History department. The Commission on University Career Opportunity has worked hard to produce equality for women in Higher Education.
