Unimore adopts the first Gender Equality Plan - GEP
Unimore has adopted the first Gender Equality Plan – GEP, an essential draft document intended to promote the achievement of gender equality in the University, through the implementation of a set of actions.
The first Gender Equality Plan - GEP was approved by Unimore University bodies (the interactive browsing version is available here: https://www.unimore.it/ editoria/sfoglia/gep/index.html). It was designed by the Operating Technical Committee established in 2020 to draw up the Gender Budgeting, coordinated by Professor Tindara Addabbo, Delegate for Equal Opportunities.
The Gender Equality Plan falls within the gender sensitive performance cycle and is part of Unimore strategic planning. Unimore is one of the first Universities in Italy that have adopted it. The Gender Equality Plan is in all respects consistent with the European Commission Guidelines and the CRUI Gender Thematic Commission Guidelines. It also follows the setting of the Gender Equality Plan that was developed under the guidance of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia within the LeTSGEPs (Leading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in research institutions) project, eligible for Horizon 2020 funding: it is a project that lays the foundations for close interaction between the gender balance of research organisations and gender equality plans to make them truly transformative. This challenge has been welcomed by six partners (research organisations and universities) who can now implement its actions. Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MISANU), Serbia; University of Messina (UNIME), Italy; University of Tirana (UT), Albania; Institut de Cičncies del Mar (ICM) and Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientķficas (CSIC), Spain; Cergy Paris Université (CY), France; Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), Germany.
The process leading to the drafting of the Plan saw the active participation of many subjects involved through auditions: the university governance, the delegate for Quality, the Chair of the technical and administrative staff, the Chair of the Student Conference, the representatives for Equal Opportunities of the departments and students through the Equality Week, a set of initiatives in which numerous students took part (https://www.focus.unimore.it/equality-week-iniziative-eventi-laboratori-allinsegna dellinclusione-e-del-rispetto-verso-le-diversita/).
In addition, the Single Guarantee Committee - CUG, whose chair actively participated in the work of the Technical Operational Committee, discussed the GEP internally, making proposals for the inclusion of actions or suggesting amendments to existing actions.
Within this perspective, the CUG itself is in charge of preparing the Positive Action Plan - PAP, which will be proposed in 2022 in a new edition, and therefore its active involvement in both the design of the GEP’s actions and the monitoring of many of the actions foreseen in the Plan is crucial.
Context analysis takes place on the basis of administrative source data and ad hoc surveys conducted on the staff and the student component by disaggregating the data according to gender and, where possible, with attention to intersectionality (with reference, for example, to disability or the presence of specific learning disabilities or coming from other countries). The context analysis on specific indicators identified in the individual actions of the GEP will support the evaluation of GEP actions in the period November/December of each year.
It will be applied to the IDEM context analysis, the innovative model of measurement of gender equity that integrates quantitative and qualitative analysis (see university start-up IDEM: https:// idemindthegap.it/) which will allow the evaluation of the overall effect of the actions on the degree of gender equity of the University.
The National and International Research Office, also thanks to the activation of the network of Equal Opportunities representatives in the departments coordinated by the Rector’s Delegate for Equal Opportunities will continue the analysis of research projects in the University with an impact in terms of gender equity. The focus will be on disseminating information on the existence of calls for applications relating to research projects on gender equality and equal opportunities.
The GEP is also closely linked to the University’s Gender Budgeting, which can assess its gender impact in an auditing phase and include actions in the programming phase.
“A distinctive feature of Unimore GEP - says Professor Tindara Addabbo - is the possibility, thanks to the role played in the interaction with other universities and research institutions, to strengthen with the comparative analysis and the constant comparison on the implementation, the transformative capacity of actions. For each action of the Plan there are several internal and external stakeholders involved and the equality bodies and the responsible directorates are identified within the university. This is reflected in the fact that the University is transversally committed to the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan and to inclusion practices at all levels.”
Categorie: International - english
Articolo pubblicato da: Ufficio Stampa Unimore - ufficiostampa@unimore.it il 15/03/2022