Gender Debate in the European Research Area

Despite their increasing participation in higher education and research, women are significantly underrepresented in certain disciplines and remarkably few women remain in top jobs in science. As attracting the best researchers with proportional representation of women and men is integral to the success of ERA and essential for the competitiveness of Europe, it is vital to ensure gender balance in research by changing the way of recruitment and career development. Based on available analyses and recommendations aimed to improve the situation of women in science, GENDERA will identify and discuss good practices of gender balance on national and European levels by networking and in workshops. The project will demonstrate the factors that limit the participation of women in specific scientific fields as well as in decision making positions, and introduce real-life implementation examples to top decision makers of research and higher education institutions. Using a shared Communication Plan, GENDERA partners will persuade the above leaders that the critical review and change of institutional recruitment, promotion and nomination policies–and their gender-related aspects–will contribute to the scientific, professional and economic success of their organisations. The understanding of this correlation will result in the commitment of the national actors who are in the position to advance the situation of women in research, with special emphasis to their representation in research management. Practical guidelines including recommendations and "model gender policies" will be developed during the project. The final European conference will discuss the project’s results. GENDERA will contribute to changing the conscious/unconscious "male-is-better" attitude widespread in research organisations, will foster improvements in the representation of women in decision making bodies, and thus increase the possibility to make their voices heard on the national and European level.