‘Cascade’ measure – Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (BE)

Since 2016 the ‘Cascade’ measure deals with gender inequality in career progression. The measure aims to fight the phenomenon known as the ‘leaky pipeline’, especially to combat the loss of gender equality at the highest levels of the academic career by encouraging women, from the beginning of the academic careers, to apply to promotions. This measure applies to promotions from October 2017 to the titles of professor (Grade B) and full professor (Grade A). Thus, if throughout the university, at the N-1 level (e.g. lecturers), women represent 33 % of the workforce, there must be a minimum of 33 % women among those promoted to level N (e.g. professors). After analysing the conditions of admissibility of the requests for promotion, the SPES (Teaching and Scientific Personnel Service within the Human Resources Department) submits the reports and rankings established by scientific commissions at the departments’ level to the Rector. The Rector, with the help of the Vice-Rector in charge of academic careers, gender and diversity and any other person whose advice they deem appropriate, selects the candidates that they then propose for a promotion to the Commission of Rectors. The Rector's proposal takes the University's gender policy into account. Specifically, the measure was complemented by the establishment of a mentoring programme for young academics (both women and men) in order to support the development of theirs careers from the first levels.