I was at a faculty meeting yesterday where a new tenure-track (permanent) professor position at my US institution was discussed. I suggested a couple of people I knew (both happened to be men) that would be perfect for this job and should be made aware of it so that they apply. The head of the department's response made my jaw drop: "I Save them time by not telling them; this position is meant to be filled by a female".

The process of filling a new tenure-track professor position in the US has always been considered as the gatekeeper of excellence, meritocracy and equality in access to academia. It has always been an open competition, during which multiple mechanisms ensure that there is no bias in the selection and the best-fitted individual prevails. Not any more, apparently.

As I found out during lunch with my colleagues, reverse gender discrimination is now a standard in ALL American universities, both public and private. Before their success with securing funding, attracting the best faculty and students and publishing the best research papers, deans and department heads are now evaluated based on a simple measure: ratio of hired male to female professors. It has to be as close to one (equal numbers of men and women) as possible; if it isn't, the dean gets grilled (in many ways) for not "promoting diversity". Never mind that about 80-90% of junior-level academics that are eligible for these positions are men; women HAVE to be given an (unfair) advantage. It is a given nowadays that the hiring standards for men are much higher than those for women.

Who applies this kind of pressure to deans and heads of academic departments? Federal or state evaluation committees, and federal funding agencies like the NSF and the NIH. In other words: people who get paid by YOUR tax dollars. Essentially: YOU (through your representatives) support this deeply undemocratic practice.