This service offers independent review of applications for promotion where there is not already clear unanimous support. It will mostly be of women applicants moving from Level C to D, and men applicants can also be reviewed. The service suits universities looking for a consultant aware of and sensitive to discrimination and barriers women in academia face, and seeking the ability to have safe, respectful, honest, and robust conversations about reaching gender parity in the professoriate. Only about 25% of Full Professors in Australia, the US, and UK are women, and at the rate of promotions and appointments pre-Covid 19 it was expected to take more than 100 years to achieve equal numbers. It is not yet known if and how much by the pandemic would extend this.

It works by acting as a confidential broker to women scholars and universities. Women can safely share the professional setbacks they have experienced but do not feel comfortable to share with you, and the recommendation I make about her application for promotion with this information in mind is confidential to you. She will feel like you cared enough to provide a safe confidential space for her to speak, and you maintain final decision-making power with access to a recommendation that is more informed than you might be. The whole process increases trust and transparency, making her attainment feel sweet, deserved, and timely, and not tainted by the unfair steepness of her hill to climb compared to his.

Time is usually lost questioning whether the hills really do differ in their steepness. The gaze falls on her, not the hill, to try and explain why women are not considered thought leaders as often. This is a natural human cognitive process (known as the fundamental attribution error), but we have it because it is self-serving: it helps ensure that in the process of supporting equal power sharing, actual power does not need to be given up. It is the normal unfortunate human default: other people’s climbs are invisible to us, until we do serious mental work to see the world from different shoes. That is a slow process, and what is causing us to lose time.

The work of gender equity needs to start from a trusting acceptance that the current state of affairs is unfair. Nuanced understanding of why, and all its complexities, need to catch up later. She is also tired of pretending that she is not so angry about this unfairness for fear of being unliked and inviting even more unfairness. It all works to make it look like things aren’t really that bad, and that a slow complacent approach is acceptable. Badges, awards, medals, and certificates help visibly showcase your support, but are ultimately extrinsic drivers. Women can see through universities who just want to be seen to be doing and saying the right thing. Being a real choice of university that your women talk up requires you to be intrinsically motivated. That growth and investment in your reputation is priceless, unbounded, and does not expire.

I look forward to seeing you soon.