Four female lecturers at NUI Galway have been promoted to senior lecturers as part of a settlement to a gender discrimination suit.
Dr. Margaret Hodgins, Dr. Sylvie Lannegrand, Dr. Adrienne Gorman, and Dr. Róisín Healy all launched a court challenge against NUIG arguing they qualified for senior lectureships in 2009, but were passed over for promotion on gender grounds.
According to a statement from NUIG as part of an “amicable agreement”, Doctors Healy, Hodgins, and Lannegard have now been promoted to senior lecturers, while Dr. Gorman was appointed a senior lecturer in November last year.
The four women took their case to the courts after the Equality Tribunal ruled in 2014 that Dr. Sheehy Skeffington had been discriminated against by NUIG on the basis of her gender.
Dr. Skeffington had also been passed over for a senior lectureship in 2009.
The Tribunal ordered her to be promoted and paid €70,000 in compensation, the university was also ordered to review its appointments procedures.
A fifth lecturer, Dr.Elisabeth Tilly, reached an agreement with NUIG granting her a promotion after her case was first heard before the Labour Court last October.
Addressing gender discrimination
In the aftermath of the Sheehy Skeffington case, NUIG established a Gender Equality Task Force which introduced gender quotas for promotions and worked on improving supports for parental leave.
