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Diversity is a key feature of a modern and successful workplace. It allows access to a larger talent pool, increases the number of viewpoints and experiences in a team, which results in improved productivity and the personal growth of all team members. To increase workplace diversity, it is important to assess and restructure recruitment processes to ensure objectivity and inclusiveness.

Employers play a central role in any discussion on inequalities, discrimination or gender gaps. “They and their agents have the power to influence, if not determine, the shape and degree of inequalities in their organisations (1).” It is the responsibility of an employer to inform themselves, to raise awareness amongst employees and individuals involved in recruitment processes, and to actively follow strategies to mitigate any imbalances, even if caused unconsciously. Such bias can mean one is failing to hire the best person for the job and potentially missing out on valuable talent.

This handbook was created to inform institutes participating in the LIBRA project and to support them in hiring the most suitable candidate, and increasing workplace diversity, which provides the basis for creativity and ultimately success. LIBRA is a project funded by the European Commission, which brings together 13 research institutes in life sciences in 13 European countries. They are all members of the alliance EU-LIFE, which aims to build and promote excellence in life sciences throughout Europe. Their commitment to excellence is also a commitment to gender equality.

The ten core LIBRA institutes developed a tailored Gender Equality Plan, which aims to bring about long lasting and profound structural changes to remove institutional barriers and empower women to be equally successful as men in their research careers. The Gender Equality Plans address four main areas of intervention, which aim to increase the number of women in senior academic positions. One of the four areas is to revise and improve recruitment policies and procedures.

One of the biggest challenges in recruitment is to overcome unconscious biases and to structure the individual processes. In order to do so, this handbook compiles a series of recommendations for a more fair, objective, and transparent recruitment process for senior leadership positions in science research institutes. These recommendations can also be applied more broadly to include the recruitment of PhD students, postdocs and technical staff.

Science academies are well placed to contribute towards strengthening of national systems of innovation through advocating for an increased participation of girls and women in science. To successfully do so, academies would need to overcome challenges faced with regard to women’s representation in their own ranks and women’s resultant full participation in the activities of national science academies. We collected baseline data on the representation of women scientists in the membership and governance structures of national science academies that are affiliated with IAP: the Global Network of Science Academies. Women academy members remained far below parity with men, given that women’s membership was typically about 12%. Women members were better represented in the social sciences, humanities and arts but the corresponding shares rarely exceeded 20%. In the natural sciences and engineering, women’s membership remained well below 10%. On average, the largest share of women members (17%) was associated with academies in Latin America and the Caribbean. The average share of women serving on governing bodies was 20%. To change this unsettling narrative, the importance of academies of science annually collecting, analysing and reporting gender-disaggregated data on membership and activities is highlighted as a key recommendation. Several aspects of women’s representation and participation in national science academies are highlighted for further investigation.

Significance:

• Demonstrates under-representation of women in national science academies.

• Reports on results of the first gender-disaggregated survey on membership and governance of national science academies, globally.

• Underscores the importance of regular collection, analysis and reporting of gender-disaggregated data in the science sector. 

Gender equality matters for its intrinsic and instrumental value. Gender equality matters intrinsically because the ability to live a life of one’s choosing is a basic human right and should be available to anyone, regardless of one’s sex or gender. Gender equality also matters because it contributes to economic efficiency and the achievement of other desirable development outcomes.

Gender equality can contribute to economic development in three ways. First, it can remove barriers that prevent women from accessing edu- cation, economic opportunities, and productive inputs that generate eco- nomic gains. Second, women’s gains promote other desired development outcomes, such as increased economic productivity, as well as child nutri- tion, health, and education, which improve the welfare of future generations. Third, greater equality of female participation in community and political organizations leads to more inclusive and representative institutions, which contributes to development. 

As awareness of the importance of gender equality grows among researchers, development practitioners, and policy makers, so does the demand to better understand the patterns of progress and the nature and sources of persistent gaps. This information is fundamental to ensure that the limited resources are channeled to areas where progress has been harder to achieve and to priority areas of interventions. The increased availability of disaggregated statistics for men and women on many key development indicators is at the same time a reflection of, and fuel for, the growing 

interest in evidence-based, gender-sensitive policy making. However, access to data in itself is not enough to ensure better understanding of the magni- tude, dynamics, and drivers of gender inequality, especially in the context of limited capacity, and even more limited resources. There is also a clear need for standard approaches, common methodologies, and analytical tools that facilitate the use of these data for systematic and comprehensive diagnostic work.

ADePT Gender is just such a tool. Building on the framework proposed by the World Development Report (WDR) 2012: Gender Equality and Development, ADePT Gender is designed to guide the broad and diverse gender and development community through the complexity of the diagnostics of gender inequality and its dynamics. The intuitive software consists of two parts. The first part uses simple statistics and tabulations to profile the extent and dynamics of gender inequalities across three dimensions— namely endowments, economic opportunities, and agency. The second part focuses on gender gaps in economic opportunities by analyzing gender disadvantages in the labor market and, in particular, wage inequality. Its focus is on being user-friendly and comprehensive, although not exhaustive.

This manual provides a guide to working with ADePT Gender with a particular emphasis on helping the wide community of users to interpret the large volume of statistical information generated by the software. Contrary to other ADePT modules, it does not detail the mechanisms behind gender differences in outcomes, as these are extensively covered in the WDR 2012 and in its companion reports. 

Since the early 1990s, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region have made admirable progress in reducing the gap between girls and boys in areas such as access to education and health care. Indeed, almost all young girls in the Region attend school, and more women than men are enrolled in university. Over the past two decades, maternal mortality declined 60 percent, the largest decrease in the world. Women in MENA are more educated than ever before. It is not only in the protest squares that have seen women whose aspirations are changing rapidly but increasingly unmet. The worldwide average for the participation of women in the workforce is approximately 50 percent. In MENA, their participation is half that at 25 percent. Facing popular pressure to be more open and inclusive, some governments in the region are considering and implementing electoral and constitutional reforms to deepen democracy. These reforms present an opportunity to enhance economic, social, and political inclusion for all, including women, who make up half the population. However, the outlook remains uncertain. Finally, there are limited private sector and entrepreneurial prospects not only for jobs but also for those women who aspire to create and run a business. These constraints present multiple challenges for reform. Each country in MENA will, of course, confront these constraints in different contexts. However, inherent in many of these challenges are rich opportunities as reforms unleash new economic actors. For the private sector, the challenge is to create more jobs for young women and men. The World Bank has been pursuing an exciting pilot program in Jordan to assist young women graduates in preparing to face the work environment.