News

GENDERACTIONplus consultation gathers stakeholder insights across Europe on national Gender Equality Plan monitoring guidelines

The EU-funded GENDERACTIONplus project recently hosted its second stakeholder engagement event on 29 November 2023 to gather input and feedback on draft guidelines for establishing Gender Equality Plan (GEP) monitoring systems at the national level. Representatives of national authorities from 14 European countries actively participated in the online consultation, sharing valuable insights, needs and challenges. Developed by partners within the GENDERACTIONplus project, the guidelines aim to provide concrete guidance on how to set up an effective monitoring system at the national authority level to monitor GEP implementation. Incorporating multiple levels of proposed monitoring, they are designed to meet the needs of both Member States and Associated Countries at different stages of national gender equality policy implementation, where GEPs are a mandatory state requirement as well as where they are not. Following an introduction to the GENDERACTIONplus project and draft guidelines by Dr Jennie Rothwell, Senior Manager of the Centre of...

Monitoring ERA Action 5 on inclusive gender equality implementation

A total of 18 Member States have committed to ERA Action 5, focusing on gender equality and inclusiveness: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. While the description of what is expected from those MS is more detailed than in the previous ERA period, there is no requirement to formulate a national action plan to implement those actions. As a consequence, little is known about the MS priorities, objectives and planned or implemented measures. This information is crucial not only for the development of a shared understanding of gender equality concepts and for defining collective goals but also for mutual learning based on the exchange of good practices. For this reason, the first GENDERACTIONplus report on monitoring the implementation of ERA GE policies. It first presents the development of gender equality objectives in the ERA, including a...

Workshop on gender-based violence and sexual harassment in Milan

The 4th Mutual Learning Workshop of the RFO CoP on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Harassment (SH) took place on 14-15 September at the premises of our partner FFRB in Milan. 25 representatives of beneficiary and associate partners, as well as members of the National Science Foundation (NSF, USA), participated in this on-site event. The aim of the workshop was to discuss strategies and create new solutions on how RFOs can contribute to the mitigation of GBV in the ERA. It also aimed to strengthen collaboration between RFO CoP members and the NSF. After a warm welcome from the hosts, Paola Bello (FFRB), Helene Schiffbänker (JR), Sophia Ivarsson (Vinnova) and Fredrik Bondestam (UGOT), members of the NSF presented their experiences with implementing policies to mitigate GBV. They emphasised the role of RFOs in the responsible use of taxpayers’ money by holding research organisations accountable for implementing policies to reduce GBV....

Advancing inclusive institutional change: GEP monitoring and evaluation practices across the ERA

The fourth benchmarking analysis conducted by GENDERACTOINplus depicts the current landscape for GEP requirements in R&I at national/regional level. It provides an overview of the overall policy framework on GEP requirement concerning ERA stakeholders and presents relevant policy developments, mainly targeting national authorities. Building on the survey responses from 15 national authorities (including 2 from Belgium), the benchmark analysis shows that: Read more in the Benchmarking analysis and assessment report how MS monitor/evaluate institutional change through GEPs.

Guidelines for sex/gender analysis. How are we doing in Europe?

The third benchmarking analysis conducted by GENDERACTOINplus looks into the existing policies and measures for integrating the gender dimension into the content of R&I and teaching in 21 countries across the ERA. It highlights promising practices and recommends actions for policy development. Building on the survey responses from 20 RFOs and 15 national authorities responsible for research andinnovation and higher education, the benchmark analysis shows that: You can find more, including recommendations on how to improve the situation, in the Benchmarking and assessment report on guidelines for sex/gender analysis – yet to be approved.

National authorities and RFOs on gender-based violence

Our second benchmark report presents a state-of-the-art analysis of the current policy development on gender-based violence in the European Research Area. It provides a comprehensive research review and policy analysis. The research described in the global section is heavily dominated by the USA, and the research described in the ERA differs in terms of content and thematic focus. For instance, bystander initiatives are frequently examined in the research review but are addressed only in one of the articles addressing the ERA. Another thematic difference is the focus on prevention and prevalence whereas the ERA articles focus, to a higher degree, on relationship violence between students. There is also a strong focus on students’ experiences of gender-based violence and its weak relation to the development of higher education infrastructure for the prevention of gender-based violence. Samples predominantly consist of majority group students, and lack diversity and intersectional perspectives. Also, research on...

Being Black in the academy

A collection of Campus resources and views provides actions that can be taken to improve diversity and belonging for Black staff and students, advice for Black academics on navigating the career ladder, tips for creating an anti-racist university and more. Navigating higher education as a racial minority can be fraught. Still, for Black men and women, often the least represented minority group in an institution, the academy can be especially isolating and unwelcoming. Students, staff and academics at every career level report suffering impostor syndrome, have seen their careers stalled by conscious or unconscious bias and are often overburdened with unpaid labour on EDI initiatives. Be inspired by what can be done to improve the situation by thetimeshighereducation.com.

LGBTQ friendly academy

Check the collection of resources created by the timeshighereducation.com focusing on what steps can be taken, on an institutional and individual levels, to ensure that LGBTQ+ scholars, students, and staff can flourish, whether in the classroom, research lab or while simply relaxing on campus. The rainbow university: Advice on creating a higher education system in which LGBTQ+ students, staff and faculty can thrive.

Intersectionality and inclusion in European R&I

The 1st GENDERACTIONplus benchmarking deliverable report was published on the project website. The results from a benchmark survey of 15 national authorities and 20 RFOs indicate that they include many equality dimensions in their legislation and policies. However, when analysing the documents provided (laws and policies), these dimensions are not clearly articulated or discussed at any length. According to the authors of the report, Heidi Holt Zachariassen and Ella Ghosh from Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research (KIF), Norway, there was a leap from inclusive legislation and policy to references to the intersections between different equality dimensions in documents and which groups are particularly vulnerable in academia. Where several equality dimensions are included, they are included in introductory statements and an additive approach is taken. The lack of a unified understanding of concepts and uncertainty about terminology are obstacles for national authorities and RFOs to develop inclusive policies....

News about GE in R&I from Slovakia

On the 9th of May 2023 – Europe Day, Marcela Linková delivered a keynote presentation at the Fair Academy conference, organised by the Slovak Centre for Scientific and Technical Information and Žijem vedu (We live science) organisation in Bratislava. Marcela informed about key developments in EU gender equality policies for research and innovation (including project actions of GENDERACTION(plus) as well as about the Czech Center for Gender & Science as an inspiration for a possible model in Slovakia. “It was a great opportunity to connect Czech and Slovak actions and to compare the progress achieved. We must continue to work closer together again! Thank you, Marcela, ” adds Alexandra Bitušíková from Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica and our GENDERACTIONplus colleague who has long been working to advance gender equality in R&I in Slovakia. The key topics for further discussion included gender-based violence in academia; the use of inclusive gender-sensitive language;...