An Interview with Equal Opportunity Commissioners Karin Hoisl and Christiane Koch

FORUM: You took office as equal opportunity commissioners on 1 October 2025. Why do you think the gender gap in academia persists?

Karin Hoisl: The numbers point to a structural issue. Women account for roughly half of students when they begin and complete their degrees in most disciplines, but we lose many of them on the way to a professorship — especially after the doctorate. This “leaky pipeline” isn’t an individual failure. It reflects an academic career system built around linear, tightly timed career paths and high international mobility. That model often aligns better with traditional male career trajectories.

FORUM: What barriers still exist for young women who want to pursue an academic career?

Christiane Koch: One major barrier is the difficulty of combining an academic career with family life. Then there are the short-term contracts common in doctoral and postdoctoral stages, and the lack of long-term job security. Women are also still underrepresented in professional networks and as role models, especially at the professorial level. And unconscious bias in hiring processes can also disadvantage women — although it’s empirically difficult to prove. One way to counter this is to define clear evaluation criteria from the outset and consistently base them on the qualifications actually required for the position.

FORUM: How is the University of Mannheim doing right now in terms of gender equality — and how does it compare with other universities?

Karin Hoisl: The university has made progress over the past decades. For a long time, we saw rising numbers of women among doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, but since around 2018 that development has stalled. At present, women hold about 23 percent of professorships — below the state average of roughly 26 percent and the national average of about 27 percent.

For the coming years, the university has set ambitious targets. The equal opportunity plan aims for 25 percent by 2028, and the federal and state Professorinnenprogramm targets 30 percent by 2030. We need to follow through on these goals, because gender equality is not only a question of fairness but also a key competitive advantage when it comes to attracting top scholars.

FORUM: What concrete steps has the university taken in recent years?

Christiane Koch: One important step was putting gender equity efforts on a stronger institutional footing. As equal opportunity commissioners, we now have our own staff and operating budget. We also meet regularly with the schools’ equal opportunity commissioners and work with them throughout appointment procedures. Fair and transparent hiring processes are one of the most effective levers for increasing the number of women professors.

Another focus is active recruitment. Highly qualified women apply less often, so we have to approach them directly. We now support the schools more actively in reaching out. Our predecessors also began making gender equity efforts more evidence-based by systematically collecting and analyzing data, and those findings have already been incorporated into the revised hiring guidelines. We plan to build on that.

FORUM: Support programs for female academics are already in place at Mannheim. What do they look like in practice?

Christiane Koch: We’re happy to share a few examples. One key instrument is the Female Professors Program of the federal and state governments, in which the University of Mannheim has once again participated successfully. In addition to funding equal opportunity measures, the program will finance the initial appointment of two female professors in the coming years.

Karin Hoisl: We also have “Women go abroad,” a travel grant program specifically designed to promote international mobility among female scholars— a crucial factor in academic careers. The program is currently being revised. And we support the statewide Margarete-von-Wrangell Program for female junior professors, for which we successfully secured funding last year as well.

FORUM: What do you want to tackle first, and what are your broader priorities during your term in office?

Karin Hoisl: Over the past few weeks, we’ve spoken with representatives from the schools and departments to better understand discipline-specific challenges with respect to gender equity. We’ll continue those conversations. We’ve also created a small funding program for equality-related initiatives proposed by university staff — such as new courses that previously had no funding. Next, we want to help change how the university is seen from the outside. Although we have many successful female scholars, Mannheim is still often perceived as male-dominated. We plan to feature some of these success stories more prominently.

Christiane Koch: Increasing the proportion of women among professors will naturally remain a key priority. The expertise of the equal opportunity commissioners at the various schools will be essential here, because labor markets and qualification profiles vary widely across disciplines and must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. We will support the school’s equal opportunity commissioners whenever they need or want us to.

FORUM: How do you divide the work between the two of you?

Christiane Koch: We share the role and really complement each other. We come from different fields — Karin’s background is in business administration and mine is in English — so we bring different strengths and weaknesses to the table, but we’re very much aligned on the big issues. We really enjoy working together. It helps that we also get along very well personally. Some days we check in several times. With today’s communication tools, it almost feels like we’re always connected.

FORUM: Where do you see the University of Mannheim in five years regarding gender equality?

Karin Hoisl: I hope we’ll see a significantly higher proportion of women among professors — and that we’ll be further along on our path to becoming a University of Excellence.

Interview: Jule Leger and Jessica Scholich / April 2026