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Step changes … women staff recreate 150-year-old Glasgow University photograph

in 1870, there were no women leaders, academics or students at the University.

Here's proof of how far one Glasgow institution has come in a century and a half.

And it's further than from just the city's High Street to Gilmorehill in the West End.

The two pictures (above and below) were created 150 years apart.

The first,  at the University of Glasgow's original site in the city centre in 1870, is exclusively made up of male professors.

 Different era: the university had no female presence in 1870. University of Glasgow Photographic Unit
Different era: the university had no female presence in 1870. University of Glasgow Photographic Unit

Fast forward to 2020, and the new photo shows 60 of the university's 200 senior women who are now employed at the institution.

The new photograph has been taken to celebrate International Women’s Day this Sunday (March 8).

It illustrates perfectly how times have changed.

 Fairer number: how the university looks today with 60 of the 200 senior women staff.
Fairer number: how the university looks today with 60 of the 200 senior women staff.

Professor Jill Morrison, Clerk of Senate and Vice-Principal, is the University’s Gender Equality Champion.

She said: “Over the 150 years we have been at our current campus in Glasgow’s West End there have been huge changes in the size and make-up of our staff and student body.

"To mark this important 150th anniversary, it was felt it was right to offer a new moment in time in the University’s 569-year history.

“On the occasion of the first image being created, there were no women leaders, academics or students at the University.

"We felt it was important to reflect how far we, as an institution, have come, while also acknowledging that we still have a way to go on our journey to gender equality.

“I hope that this photo will inform discussions and reflection on gender equality both on International Women’s Day and throughout the year.”

"We felt it was important to reflect how far we, as an institution, have come, while also acknowledging that we still have a way to go on our journey to gender equality"

Professor Jill Morrison

The old photograph was taken ahead of the university's relocation from the city's High Street.

The 26 male professors posed for the camera on the University’s iconic Lion and Unicorn staircase.

Professor Dee Heddon, James Arnott Chair in Drama based at the University’s College of Arts, who along with Professor Morrison led on the photo recreation idea, said: “At the end of last year, the University repainted the Lion & Unicorn staircase.

"To mark that occasion, the black and white photo taken on the staircase in 1870 was published on Twitter.

“Many of my female colleagues remarked that it would be good to create a new photo for the 21st century.

"What better opportunity than the 150-year anniversary of the move to Gilmorehill and International Women's Day 2020?

“Today, we celebrate our female colleagues' achievements and acknowledge where we are now and where we still need to get to in terms of equality.”

The university's road to equality:

  • Today at the University of Glasgow, 31.3% senior leaders – professors and senior professional services leads – are woman.
  • Of the nearly 4,855 women employed at the University, 384 are BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic).
  • Half of the 14 people who sit on the University’s Senior Management are women; nearly 60% of more than 30,000 students at the University are female.
  • In 1870, the University’s records show that all the academics were men including its senior leaders, made up of 26 professors.
  • All the University’s 1279 students in 1870 were men - it was another 24 years before the first four women graduated.
  • In 1908 the first women teaching staff members – Janet Spens and Agnes Picken – were appointed.
  • In 1919, Theodora Keith became the University's first woman lecturer.
  • In 1973, Delphine Parrott became the first woman to hold a titular Chair at the University and in 1978, Rona Mackie was the first woman to be appointed to an established Chair when she became Professor of Dermatology.
  • Professor Andrea Nolan became the University's first woman Dean in 1999 when she was appointed Dean of Veterinary Medicine.
  • She was appointed Vice Principal in 2004 and became Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2009.
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