Giver kvinder og mænd forskellige karakterer? Køn og karaktergivning på universitetet

Resumé

Er kvindelige universitetsansatte mere orienteret mod at hjælpe den enkelte studerende end deres mandlige kolleger, og giver de derfor bedre karakterer? Artiklen undersøger dette i en panelundersøgelse af bedømmelsesadfærd på to danske universitetsinstitutter mellem 2004 og 2010. På baggrund af spørgeskemaer fra 78 universitetslærere kombineret med registerdata fra 381 eksaminationer er svarene ”ja” og ”nej”. Selvom kvindelige bedømmere faktisk er mere orienteret mod den enkelte studerende, og selvom dette generelt er forbundet med at give højere karakter, giver kvinderne ikke signifikant anderledes karakterer end deres mandlige kolleger. Det tyder på, at kvinder aktivt modvirker kønsstereotyper, hvilket er betryggende i den forstand, at studerende ikke bliver behandlet forskelligt alt efter, om de bliver bedømt af en mand eller en kvinde.

Are female university teachers more motivated to helping individual students than their male colleagues, and if so, does this mean that students with female teachers achieve higher grades than those taught by men? This article investigates this question using a panel study of examination behavior at two Danish university departments between 2004 and 2010 (381 examinations relating to courses given by 78 university teachers). The analyses show that even though female teachers are more likely to be motivated to support students individually, and this is associated with high grades, in this study there was no difference between the grade distributions given by the female and the male teachers. These apparently inconsistent results might be due to the female teachers actively counteracting the perceived gender stereotypes when marking the papers they set. Alternatively, it may show that professional norms are more important than gender. In either instance it is reassuring in the sense that students are not treated differently, depending on whether the teacher who marks the examination papers is male or female.