Gender disparities in promotions and exiting in UK Russell Group universities

A theoretical model of promotion and exits is presented incorporating statistical discrimination and bias, with both leading to a lower likelihood of promotion and a higher probability of exiting academia earlier for women. Using UK panel data, we confirm the model's predictions that women academics are considerably under-represented in higher academic grades, and especially that gender gaps are largest at Full Professor level (e.g. we show that, cet. par. women took some 8.5 years more than men to achieve Associate Professor and then a further 6.1 years more to secure a Full Professorship). The policy implications of the results suggest that UK universities should emphasize the importance of organizational culture, evaluation practices and institutional procedures when hiring and promoting both men and women.