Gender Equality Programme in Academia - Raising Diversity

"<< Background >>In the past 15 years, the European Union has made strides in promoting gender equality in research and higher education. However, significant work remains. Gender equality is a core EU value and priority, yet it's not fully realized. Achieving it requires eliminating discrimination across all sectors. Identifying actors to address this varies by context. Gender policy is a priority in Horizon Europe, necessitating collaboration to meet objectives. Challenges include a lack of coherent equality policies, technical solutions, diagnostic tools, and communication channels. Young democracies face conservative backlash threatening women's rights and academic freedom. Female underrepresentation in leadership persists, hindering inclusive decision-making crucial for tackling complex challenges. DEI policies are still not very common in HEs institutions. Only 15% of university rectors are female across 48 countries. COVID-19 has exacerbated gender inequalities in academia, highlighting long-standing societal biases. Despite efforts, progress towards gender equality remains insufficient and precarious. << Objectives >>The GEPARD project is committed to fostering gender equality within academic environments through the collaborative efforts of an international consortium. Its overarching aim is to create conditions that ensure equal opportunities for women and men across universities. This endeavor encompasses not only the eradication of gender discrimination among both staff and students but also the promotion of diversity, ensuring that the gender perspective is integrated into all facets of university operations.Firstly, it aims to construct a universal model for the implementation of gender equality policies within academic spaces. This model will serve as a blueprint for universities worldwide, with dissemination activities facilitating its adoption across various countries. Secondly, the project seeks to facilitate the exchange and promotion of best practices in gender equality within academia. By sharing successful strategies and approaches, the consortium aims to inspire positive change and progress. Moreover, the GEPARD project prioritizes the strengthening of cooperation between participating entities and represents a multifaceted approach to advancing gender equality in academia. << Implementation >>The GEPARD project encompasses several key activities:- Collaborative development of 4 intellectual outputs- Organizing 9 dedicated dissemination events, including workshops in partner countries, and other dissemination activities (with the final international intersectoral conference - more than 1000 participants)- Project management, including seven transnational meetingsPartners were selected to ensure diversity, reflecting varied historical, cultural, and religious backgrounds across Europe and globally. This diversity enriches the project's understanding of the societal roles of women and the composition of academic communities in partner countries. The project emphasises eco-friendly practices both in planning and implementation stages, such as utilizing carbon-free digital communication and distance learning methods.All partners contribute to project management, quality assurance, dissemination at the country level, local activities, and ensuring the sustainability of project outcomes. Outputs and outcomes are disseminated widely to inform and engage target audiences, potential users, and interested organizations.<< Results >>The international project consortium worked out jointly 4 intellectual outputs: IO1 - Practice in gender equality plans - assumptions, models, inspirations. Report. (Developing a Universal Gender Equality Plan plan with model provisions as a tool for application both by the universities associated with the consortium and other stakeholders operating in the academic sphere; Recommendations for the partner universities, indicating specific areas for improvement (with a follow-up procedure), Final Report with a kind of ""general comments"", complementing the UGEP and facilitating its interpretation).IO2 - Modeling of diagnostic, monitoring and evaluation activities in the context of gender equality in the university space. Methodological guide (The guide presents a model of methodological solutions as a set of recommendations in terms of both the diagnosis of gender inequality phenomena in academia and the needs of working and studying women in the area of equality of opportunities and as directions of actions and measures for the implementation of the equality policy (ensuring equal opportunities) as well as in the field of monitoring the progress in the implementation of UGEP).IO3 - Paths to equality. A set of information and educational materials (a toolkit with guideposts showing good practices and procedures on how to close gender gaps in an academic context). IO4 - Gender equality in academic teaching - an interdisciplinary perspective. Teaching materials (set of innovative teaching materials / ready-to-use lesson plans on gender equality and gender discrimination in a context that allows the perception of this complex problem in a diverse educational environment)."