Navigating Career in Academia - the role of mentoring
By: Pia Prip Hansen, 14.02.2025
Gender equality in academia remains an ongoing challenge despite progress in recent years. Women are still underrepresented in senior academic roles. Often this is due to barriers such as unconscious bias, unequal access to funding, and biased hiring processes based on narrow criteria like number of publications published in prestigious journals, thereby overlooking other essential contributions such as teaching and administrative tasks(1).
Another factor that may influence women’s career progress is work-life balance. A recent Danish study reveals that women are more likely than their male counterparts to leave academia after having children. This may be caused by the working environment in universities, where the intense competitiveness can lead to burnout, emotional exhaustion, or such extreme fatigue that it impacts their personal lives(2).
Part of the explanation may be linked to the organisational structure at universities. Research environments often have a highly hierarchical structure, frequent use of short-term employment contracts, internal recruitment and highly competitive hiring processes, which may contribute to creating a less appealing working environment for female academics.
Mentoring and role models
Mentoring has proven to be a powerful tool for addressing these imbalances and when universities invest in strategic mentoring programmes, these programmes provide guidance, build networks and empower underrepresented groups to navigate the unspoken rules of academia.
Mentors play a dual role as guides and role models. By embodying the skills, attitudes, and behaviours necessary for professional success, mentors inspire mentees to envision their own potential and set ambitious career goals. Mentors provide a tangible example of what can be achieved and demonstrate pathways to success and share insights into the academic environment, not accessible through traditional learning methods.
When mentors participate in structed mentoring programmes, they create a supportive environment where mentees feel empowered to take ownership of their own careers. This combination of mentorship and role modeling fosters both personal and professional development, accelerates career progression and builds future leaders and professors.
UiO Mentoring Programme for female postdocs
In the Nordics, Norway leads in implementing gender equality initiatives within academia(1). An example of this is the University of Oslo (UiO), that since 2002 have run mentoring programmes for female postdocs. Between 2002 and 2012, four programmes were conducted, and since 2013, the mentoring programme has been held annually, demonstrating a sustained commitment to supporting women in academia and addressing gender disparities through targeted initiatives.
The programme aims at improving the awareness of gender and recruiting, and increasing the proportion of women in academic top positions. The programme is a career development programme especially for female postdoctoral fellows who want to pursue a further career in academia. Therefore, the aim of the programme is to motivate women to pursue an academic career as well as providing a framework for networking and learning across UiO(4).
Joke Dewilde, a professor of multilingualism in education, participated in the UiO mentoring programme in 2015 as a postdoctoral researcher. She was paired with a female professor from UiO. Joke states,
“My mentor had a profile close to my own – creative and visionary – and in that way she really helped me find my own way. This made the match very good. She was very open and shared her application for promotion to become full professor very early on and talked about how she had applied for external funding. I really appreciated her openness and way of sharing her own personal story. I could relate to what she was telling me”.
“One of my biggest challenges was finding out who I would like to become. Together with my mentor I worked a lot on establishing my profile and finding out what I would like to work on. She taught me how to act when people came to recruit me in their projects. I learned to say – “ I hear what you are saying, so what I can contribute with is”’. So, if they didn’t think my counter proposal was interesting, I was not the right candidate for their projects. And instead of accommodating other people’s needs, I learned to put my own needs forward without feeling guilty about it".
"My mentor helped me set priorities. In Norway, becoming a professor often involves focusing on three specific academic areas. The challenge is knowing when to say yes and when to say no. She advised me to ask myself, “What are the consequences of saying no? Will it close doors I might need in the future, or will it help me focus on my core areas?” Her guidance made me more reflective and significantly eased the process of making these decisions”.
For Joke, one of her biggest concerns after having defended her PhD thesis, was finding a balance in joining other projects and pursuing her own interest.
What stood out to Joke, however, was how refreshing it felt that her mentor came from a completely different field. This lack of personal stake in her career choices allowed their mentoring relationship to focus solely on her growth and aspirations, free from external pressures. Joke elaborates
“What I really liked about the programme was that you met people from different fields which broadened your perception, and you were matched with someone from outside of your own field. This meant you were very free to describe your research field, dreams, wishes and challenges. The mentor did not try to recruit me to her projects and would listen to my issues and challenges without any ulterior motives.”
From PhD to Professor: Navigating a Path to Career Success
Having an international profile is very important in academia. It is now more challenging to secure a permanent position after completing your PhD, as the number of individuals earning doctorates has increased. Those who do go abroad or publish in international journals have an advantage in the competition for a permanent academic position(3).
“My mentor advised me to reach out to international contacts, stay focused on tasks, and be bold enough to take on new challenges. Following this advice, I reached out to a contact of mine in the UK and asked her to consider me for upcoming opportunities. This helped me build my international profile”.
Two years after participating in the mentoring programme, Joke was offered a permanent position at UiO – a newly created role that perfectly combined her areas of expertise, and according to Joke,
“This job comes with a lot of responsibility but also offers a great deal of freedom – I can be creative”.
However, transitioning from a smaller university college to the University of Oslo was a significant step. One of her main concerns, which she discussed extensively with her mentor, was how to navigate a highly competitive environment while staying true to herself. She states,
“Changing environment was perhaps more challenging than I expected. On one hand, it felt safe to stay in a familiar setting where you’re guided and told what to do. But when you step into a new environment, you have to rediscover your place”.
Joke further states,
“I have a two-hour train commute, so I never thought I could work at UiO. However, my mentor encouraged me, and I allowed myself to imagine what a position could look like in the future. Being able to work on something I’m truly passionate about outweighs the challenges of a long commute – it’s far more fulfilling than working closer to home in a field I’m not passionate about”.
Since 2013, the proportion of female professors at UiO has increased by just over 7%, rising from 29% in 2013 to 36,9% in 20235. In 2022, Joke Dewilde became a professor, contributing positively to this growth in number of female professors. While it cannot be proven that participating in the mentoring programme in 2015 was the reason for her career progress, however as she states,
“When you are part of a very competitive environment, you need to ask yourself what kind of colleague you wish to be. I want to be an encouraging colleague, a team player, and balance that with my own career. I worked with my mentor on how to navigate in a competitive environment. And now when I have become more senior, I try to become more like my mentor – I want to give back”.
In conclusion, mentoring programmes for women in academia should focus on fostering systemic and cultural change rather than altering the women themselves. By addressing institutional barriers and promoting inclusive practices, such programmes can empower women to advance their careers and contribute to reducing the gender imbalance in higher academic positions. Mentoring initiatives that prioritize professional development, networking, and peer support lay a strong foundation for encouraging and inspiring women to pursue and achieve professorships, ultimately creating a more equitable and diverse academic environment.
References:
- https://www.nordforsk.org/sv/news/ligestillingstiltag-far-flere-kvinder-ind-i-toppen-af-akademia
- https://dm.dk/forskerforum/aktuelt/2024/maj/ny-undersoegelse-kvinder-dropper-forskerkarrieren-naar-de-faar-boern/
- https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/om/samarbeid/prosjektforum/oppdragsgivers-erfaringer/2021/uio-hr.pdf
- https://www.uio.no/english/for-employees/competence/gender-equality/mentoring-programme/
- https://www.uio.no/english/about/strategy/gender-equality/index.html
