WE4LEAD - Women's empowerment for leadership and equity in higher education institutions

The overall objective of “WE4HER Leadership” is to transform the governance of Mediterranean Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through the promotion and adoption of a culture of gender equality. More specifically, “WE4HER Leadership” aims to increase the proportion of women among the top decision-making bodies of the HEIs, thereby contributing to a more inclusive management and governance of these institutions. Indeed, while women are in the majority among the lower echelons, they become a minority as you rise in the hierarchy. The existence of such an injustice not only deprives the HEIs of half of their available human capital, but it is also harmful to the University communities and to society as a whole. The project partners – coordinator Aix-Marseille Université (FR), Autónoma de Madrid (ES), Roma Sapienza (IT), Constantine 3 (DZ), Mostaganem (DZ), Antonine (LB), Université Libanaise (LB), Sousse (TN) and Tunis El Manar (TN) – are all politically engaged to achieving gender equality.They will work together to progress along this road: collecting gendered data; increasing decision-makers’ awareness of the existence and causes of gender inequality; creating a political framework to support gender equality; instituting training that has been shown to reduce gender bias in recruitment decisions; and finally improving awareness of gender-based harassment and how it is addressed. Each partner will implement these actions in light of his own prior experience and institutional setting, helping each other through sharing of experience and peer learning. They will then share the lessons learned, methodologies and outputs with other HEIs of the region.Because this 36-month project specifically focuses on the institutional transformation of the HEIs, its primary target groups are the academic and administrative staff. However, the entire academic communities will benefit from the project impacts.