Establishing a Gender Equality Committee is a key way for institutions to show commitment towards workplace gender equality and drive change towards a more diverse and inclusive culture. But it can be challenging to even know where to start.
In this guidelines, we have put together advice, based on the collective experience of the research centres at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), that we hope will be useful to others to start this path.
Hate crime against LGBTIQ* persons is the most severe form of expression of homophobia and transphobia and not uncommon in Germany and in other European states, be it in the public or private sphere. For those affected, this represents a considerable burden and stress as well as a restriction of freedom and participation in social life.
The Working Paper shows that on the one hand, changes in criminal law are needed to fight hate crime against LGBTIQ* persons more effectively. On the other hand, non-legal measures – for instance in the work and training of the police, the judiciary and within victim support – need to be developed and implemented.
Mainstreaming the gender dimension in research activities and outcomes is a topical challenge related to excellence. The gender dimension in research activities requires an ethically sound process in creating high-quality results. Major research funding organisations are increasingly interested in analyses of the gender dimension in research, thereby challenging researchers to review their research plans accordingly. The Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) aims to tackle this challenge. The GIA is not a strict methodology but rather an approach to be further co-designed by local GIA communities of practitioners (CoPs) to ensure its fit into each academic research setting in aiming to improve equality and quality of the knowledge produced. The GIA approach also effectively supports Horizon Europe’s mission-oriented work, in which European research and innovation missions have the objective of delivering solutions to some of the greatest challenges that our world is facing, all of them having gender impact. The GIA guidelines introduce the approach as an institutional and operational set-up. They describe the institutional structures, processes, and resources needed for successful application of the GIA approach, and identify the key stakeholders within a university that are central for its institutionalization and operationalization — the GIA CoPs. Further, the guidelines propose institutional structures needed for gender impact assessment operations to make them standard procedures in an institution. Local GIA CoPs are in a central position to ensure a perfect fit of the GIA within a particular institutional setting as well as its sustainability.
This Toolbox for gender-neutral, diversity-oriented institutional communication (D. 5.4) is developped by RUB as part of Work Package 5 – Ensure a sustainable and cultural change by establishing a gender and diversity-friendly environment of the RESET project. This toolbox is the output of Task 5.4 – Promoting a unique standard of gender neutral, non-discriminatory, positive forms of communication. The toolbox builds on the insights and achievements that are reflected in the Guidelines for gender-sensitive communication in research and academia (2021) of the project SUPERA - Supporting the Promotion of Equality in Research and Academia. Additionally, this toolbox enriches the focus on gender-sensitive communication with the notion of gender-inclusive forms of communication as well as an intersectional perspective on further dimensions of diversity. For this, the Toolbox contains with a conceptual framework, that has a purpose to provide valuable information and knowledge around the necessity of gender-neutral, gender-sensitive as well as diversity-oriented forms of communication. Here, RESET’s intersectional perspective, and its understanding of diversity in the context of HEIs are explained. Information on social psychological and socio-linguistic aspects of communication are interpreted in relation to gender and diversity. Against these backgrounds the opportunities and challenges of visual aspects of communication are reflected. Part B contains the tools that have been developed in the context of the toolbox-creation, aligned with the conceptual framework, and based on institutional queries, interviews, and discussions within RESET consortium. They are meant to provide a starting point for making communication at our universities more inclusive, both in terms of gender diversity and other diversity factors. The Toolbox is a work-in-progress and closely interwoven with the ongoing work of RESET project. It will be enriched as the project evolves. At this stage, the toolbox has a strong focus on the aspect of gender-inclusive communication. In the future, it is going to entail more tools that emphasize the diversity aspect to a greater extent and that are going to be co-designed with our communities at our universities, to create safe and diversity friendly environments.
