The German academic system has witnessed and continues to witness the underrepresentation of women in leading positions. Only 27% of professors are women, despite women constituting more than 50% of students in Germany (Destatis, 2023). The reasons for this disparity have been extensively discussed and are attributed to the symbolic order of academia (Jenkins et al., 2022), organisational and institutional challenges in career advancement (Burger et al., 2016; Schwarz et al., 2018), and the absence of career-promoting networks and mentoring relationships (van Helden et al., 2023; Wieners, 2022). To address these issues, German universities have established mentoring programmes for female academics since the 1990s as a measure of gender equality. Mentoring programmes are intended to initiate career-promoting relationships and networks that were long taken for granted by men but were only sometimes visible. However, careers depend not only on relationships but also on social and organisational uncertainties and inequalities. This paper examines the latter aspects and presents results from a retention study of four mentoring programmes within a German collaborative project. The four programmes focus on transitions from university to career, from doctoral studies to industry or academia, and from the late postdoc phase to professorships. The paper presents the first results of a survey of the effectiveness of these long-established mentoring programmes in influencing the career development of women. The focus of this study is (1) retention and job satisfaction and (2) an intersectional perspective on gender (Walgenbach et al., 2012). The study explores the impact of uncertainties, such as those brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, on academic careers and how these uncertainties are structured intersectionally. Initial results from the study on the effectiveness of mentoring relationships will be presented and integrated into research on female academic careers. The article mainly highlights the opportunities for organisational learning and change that mentoring programmes can offer in addressing the broader intersectional challenges faced by women in academia.

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