Glass ceiling in academia revisited: evidence from the higher education system of Turkey

Abstract Current study investigates the gender gap in academic promotions in Turkey taking a new perspective on the widely established existence of gender inequality in academia. The dataset includes the eight most-prominent research universities in Turkey and the nature of the ‘glass ceiling’ is explored by looking at the gendered distributions of: (1) academic seats -indicating academic performances, and (2) coauthorship patterns concerning genders. Findings suggest that there is gender disparity in academic performances as well as in academic promotions. In addition, gender is found to be a significant factor in explaining the current situation in academic ranks and subtle discrimination practices may exist instead of overt discrimination practices as it is also suggested in previous studies. In sum, results show two main points: (1) There is evidence of gender gap in academic promotions in Turkey, (2) A new variable –cross gender coauthorship- for glass ceiling research may provide further insight about the issue.