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GenPORT is funded by the European Union FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2012-1 programme.

Welcome to the discussion - we will start 10:00 CET!

E-Discussion Topic
E-discussion: Gender equality in decision-making in R&I and HE
GenPORT links
A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling
Setting up a dynamic framework to activate gender equality structural transformation in research organizations
A rights-based approach to board quotas and how hard sanctions work for gender equality
Transformative gender interventions: Linking theory and practice using the “bifocal approach”
Critical Leadership Studies: Exploring the Dialectics of Leadership

Welcome to this e-discussion on gender equality in decision-making in R&I and HE!

Gender equality and gender mainstreaming have become one of the European Research Area priorities –and gender-balance in decision-making is one of three key objectives. Women’s representation in academia decreases the higher up the academic ladder – culminating in the very small percentage of women in decision-making posts, on boards and in committees and as heads of institutions. In 2017 only 27% of board members (including leaders) and 21.7% of heads of institutions in the higher education sector were women (She Figures, 2018:115).

My name is Rachel Palmén, I am senior researcher at the Open University of Catalonia as well as being affiliated to Notus. I have been involved in various European Commission funded projects looking at gender equality in research and innovation. The first large project I worked on was GenPORT where I wrote various research syntheses and policy briefs. I then worked on the EFFORTI project where we developed an evaluation framework for gender equality interventions in R&I. I am currently working on the TARGET project where we support institutions designing, implementing and evaluating gender equality plans and I am currently involved in the ACT project. In the ACT project from Notus I am currently leading the ERA Group on Gender Equality in Decision-Making – and this e-discussion is the first activity that this group holds.

We have experts joining our discussion who will share their knowledge on the topic based on their research expertise. Invited experts will engage with participants to discuss some of the key debates in this field including quotas and targets, gender knowledge and competences in decision-making bodies and power. This will be followed by a more practical focus on strategies for action.

Key issues to debate:

  • What can we learn from different experiences of applying targets and quotas to create more gender fair decision-making bodies?
  • How do you address the double burden when the same few women have to participate on many different committees/ boards?
  • What are effective ways to build gender competence in decision-making bodies?
  • How can we effectively deal with ‘non-action’ and resistance to institutional change?

Whilst the discussion will start at 10:00 I will now ask our experts to introduce themselves:

Pat

HMM. My research does not support this.

Bear in mind that getting women to distrust and fear other women is a key element in fostering patriarchy- since if women cannot rely on other women they must rely on men... Whose interests are Forbes magazine likely to be supporting...

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:22 Permalink
c.j.vinkenburg

Part of being gender sensitive (or competent) means we have to realize men and women in decision making positions are held to very strong injuctive or prescriptive norms and stereotypes of how to behave. Especially being in a token position (only woman on an all male board or hierarchical level) we are expected NOT to show solidarity to other women because that would be nepotism. Classic double bind!

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:24 Permalink
gulsunsaglamer

I do not agree ; When I was elected for the first period of 4 years,  YES I appointed 3 male vice rectors as I was the first female rector in my university since its establishment in 1773,  but in the same period I appointed many women advisors to take care about many vital issues across the university. They had been very successful and gained very strong prestigue  during those 4 years. In the second period I appointed two women vice rectors out of 3. Then the university was ready to have 3 out of 4 top management team members female. There should be a planned process to reach the goal. We should be careful to minimize the resistance . Otherwise we can not achieve sustainable solutions.

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:30 Permalink
Pat

I agree with Angela that this is only one crude indicator (and may be misleading if those women at prof level are not feminists). However in many HEs to sit on key recruitment/promotion/resource allocating bodies, you have to be at this level.

In addition, because of variation in HE systems, it is often difficult to compare other percentages- as those involved with SHE figures will be acutely aware (Tks for your work ...)

 

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:18 Permalink
Angela Wroblewski

I think this is again a point where sex (being women) and gender competence are mixed up. one Austrian university accepts in case that not enough women are willing to participate in a university body (e.g. senate commission) - men who participated in a gender bias training are accepted as an replacement in order to fulfil the quota. this is of course also not an ideal solution but it supports the implementation of the quota regulation.

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:28 Permalink
Marta Warat

This is the problem we also face in Poland where the same women are involved in all committees and initiate various programmes or mechanisms to address gender inequality. This also raises a question about the sustainability.

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:31 Permalink
Rachel Palmén

Marta, 

In Poland are women's other repsonsibilities (like adminsitrative/ teaching responsibilities) redistirbuted? Or are women expected to do the same amount of work AND particpate in committees etc?? 

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:35 Permalink
c.j.vinkenburg

Pat's suggestions are really good but it also depends on the discipline (what is the overall representation / pool), a redefinition of and more transparancy on how committees and boards are "filled", and awareness of expectations and workloads (how many committees must one be in and how is one rewarded / compensated for membership) in career terms. When boards are filled via democratic election the dynamic is totally different from "being asked by the dean" or "a chore you have to do"

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:40 Permalink
Maria Caprile Elola

Thanks for your questions Rachel! I think the whole point relies on making explicit the resistance, even if it is implicit, due to inaction, diffuse... And making it explicit (that is, recognised) not only individually. Change agents cannot be isolated people. They have to work in a team. Making resistance explicit in the team opens the room to discuss how resistance can be counteracted effectively. There could be many ways: sometimes, an effective way is to play the "implicit/explicit", "inactive/active" game. In TARGET we discussed this possibility, which was effective in one of the institutions. I would say: resistance happens anytime in diverse ways, so there is a continuous need to be alert, recognise it and deal with it in diverse ways too

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:55 Permalink
Karolina Kublickiene

sometimes i feel that leadership is so afraid of any change, they just settle in their positions and the moment they need to do something new or challenging thye are so resistant.

I truly believe that it so much dependent of the leader irrestective of gender: ir their passion to make a change.

Resistance comes from insecurity and porbably self perceptions about yourself.

It is really sad that people give up sometimes, because they are considered as a trouble maker. I been in so many situations, if you lift things up that are related to challenge or comparable -you are a trouble maker, if men does this -he is really good.

My strategy so far, is to make alliances before i want to present something new. At the end also money talks, when research supporting bodies require to introduce gender dimension in the research comntent, everyone is now more or less intrested. However important to follow, is it only description to get some money, or it is real that the researchers implementing eg gender dimension in the research or educational content.

 

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:46 Permalink
Karolina Kublickiene

if simple to fight resistance:

make an alliance - preferably male who is a decission maker

have a portfolio with the controlled evidence that you could muse as a support

and show some tangilable outcome as example, preferably based on in my case health economis-money always talk

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:50 Permalink
aknapinska

Sometimes, if gender equality in teams - for instance - is required in the projects, it exists only on paper for the reporting purposes. Maybe the good idea would be describing not why gender equality is important in the particular project, but why gender equality and gender issues are NOT relevant (it seems to me that it might be more difficult to justify). 

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:57 Permalink
c.j.vinkenburg

Two key learnings from my own experience and evidence:

1. Engage leadership from the beginning - problem ownership then also can become solution ownership

2. Quota (with sanctions) can be a stick waiting behind the door in case targets do not work, but at some point the stick has to appear because otherwise an empty threat

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:50 Permalink
Karolina Kublickiene

Dera All, thnak you for this exiting forum, unfortunately i need to leave for the emergency meeting due to COVID19 situation.

i hope i can follow later what you were comenting.

Stay safe stay healthy kind regards

karolina

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:53 Permalink
gulsunsaglamer

Time is UP

This was my first E-Discussion experience

Next time  I hope I will perform better

Have safe days ahead. 

We are advised to stay home as much as possible at the moment for some 3 weeks (in Istanbul)

I hope the pandemic will dissapear in a short time.

Best wishes,

Gülsün Sağlamer

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 11:58 Permalink
Rachel Palmén

 

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the online discussion today.

We will produce an edited summary document and send it to you for your information.

 

You’ll find the majority of resources that are referred to in the blogpost uploaded on GenPORT.

 

This online discussion was the first activity  of the three ACT ERA Groups – (Decision-Making, Careers and the Gender Dimension). Through these groups we aim to link the different Communities of Practice supported through the act project to key players at the European level in each of these areas. The idea is to scale-up our activities to have the maximum impact.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to take part in this fascinating discussion and we will be in touch to see if you would like to take part in further activity!

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 12:00 Permalink

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