Introduction : aiming high -- falling short? / Ann Numhauser-Henning -- Denmark : structural and unconscious gender discrimination in Danish universities / Lynn Roseberry -- France : gender equality in French academia / Anne-Marie Daune-Richard -- Germany : new governance for higher education institutions, prospects for female university careers and equality law / Dagmar Schiek and Almut Kirschbaum -- Hungary : easy to accede, hard to succeed -- the ambivalent case of academic career for women in the post-socialist Hungary / Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky -- Italy : 'playing with fire' : equality, fairness and the paradox of a gender blind society / Elena Urso -- The Netherlands : women in academia in the Netherlands -- bridging the gap? / Susanne Burri -- Sweden : recruitment targets for women professors -- mission impossible? / Ann Numhauser-Henning -- United Kingdom : progress, problems and opportunities / Christopher McCrudden.