Frauenförderung in der Wissenschaft durch Professorinnenprogramme

This study addresses the concept of employing more women in academia, a subject which is as topical as it is controversial. It focuses on programmes in Germany, such as the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors, which aim to encourage university departments to employ women as professors on a W2/W3 pay scale by offering them financial incentives. On the one hand, the study examines the legality of such gender-specific programmes with regard to German constitutional law, European law and anti-discrimination law. On the other, it analyses potential legal problems relating to their implementation in the context of university employment procedures, in particular universities’ obligation to advertise all vacant positions according to German constitutional law. The study then proceeds to discuss the possibility of employing people on an individual basis in the context of Germany’s national and state laws on higher education.