Gender equality plans

The main aim of SUPERA is to develop with a participatory approach tailor-made, fully fledged gender equality plans in six research institutions: four universities and two research organisations. We are glad to share the official documents that detail the committments of our partner institutions towards the advancement of gender equality.

The CEU SUPERA team, with the CEU Gender Equality HUB and the Senate Equal Opportunity Committee, has developed the first Gender Equality Plan of the Central European University. Approved on 23rd April, 2020, this three-year GEP is designed to tackle the problems that revolve around SUPERA’s key priority areas: gender equality in CEU’s mission, leadership and access to decision-making, gender equality in recruitment, retention, and career progression including availability of family-friendly policies, gender dimension in knowledge transfer and research, sexism, gender biases and stereotypes, and sexual harassment. The GEP covers as well gender-sensitive data management and gender equality institutional structures.

The Gender Equality Plan of the University of Cagliari is composed of 32 actions to be completed before the end of 2024. Approved on 30th June, 2020, it has been drafted starting from the results of a participatory approach with the use of interviews, co-working sessions and a consultation activity. From the top positions of the administrative structure, up to the teaching and research staff, the technical staff and the students, all the parts of the academic community have been heard, their resistances analysed and their priorities taken into consideration.

The GEP of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia has been approved on 30th July, 2020 and has been developed with the support of the Regional Programming Center (CRP), responsible for the management of fundings from European programs. In RAS, the funding related to basic research projects, young researchers and the investments in support of the innovation system are managed on the basis of the Regional Law n. 7/2007. The RAS’ GEP strengthens the gender equality dimension of this law and it is conceived as a dynamic tool, whose structure has been defined by using the Logical Framework Approach (LFA), choosing objectives, actions and indicators to provide appropriate actions throughout the life span of SUPERA.

In January 2021, the Governing Board of the State Research Agency of Spain (AEI) has approved its first Gender Equality Plan for the period 2021-2023. The GEP has been developed by the Strategic Group on Gender Equality, supported by the Women and Science Unit of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The GEP represents an effort to systematise and advance in the equality strategies and measures committed to in the Roadmap for the Development of the European Research Area in Spain 2016-2020, while integrating the measures already implemented by the AEI in its calls for proposals. The AEI GEP is available in English at this link and in Spanish at this link.

The First Plan for Equality, Equity and Diversity of the University of Coimbra is composed of 56 actions to be implemented until 2023. Approved on April 2021, it was first drafted by the SUPERA team and further harmonized and framed within the wider institutional strategy for citizenship, equality and inclusiveness. It is a comprehensive plan, structured around 9 strategic objectives that tackle the challenges evidenced in the baseline assessment around SUPERA’s key priority areas, and incorporating different types of actions – from awareness-raising to structural change. For each priority, specific objectives are listed, and output, outcome and impact indicators are defined. The CES-UC GEP is available also in English at this link.

UCM approved its second GEP also thanks to the support of the SUPERA team in the phases of diagnosis and strategic definition of actions and, in the last period, with a technical report on strategic areas of intervention. The GEP is divided into 4 axes, objectives and actions: 1.gender-sensitive governance; 2.career development, talent retention and Work-life balance policies & co-responsibility; 3.UCM’s commitment against sexual and sexist harassment sexual and to the State Pact against gender violence; 4. building a culture of equality for UCM.

This Gender equality Plan (GEP) template has been developed by Yellow Window based on the experience of the SUPERA project and it can be considered a minimum standard for a Gender Equality Plan. It is suggested to structure the GEP according to the main strategic objectives, as put forward by the European Commission.