Step 1: Getting started

At this point, you have realised that promoting gender equality in your organisation is crucial to promote better working conditions and to perform research that is more responsive to societal needs. Now … how to get the process started?

As a first step, you need to understand the context of your own organisation (see below for more details), starting with the type of organisation: it makes a difference whether you are trying to implement gender equality in a university, in a public or private research organisation or in a research funding body. As promoting gender equality in a research funding organisation follows a different logic from promoting gender equality in research-performing organisations, we have prepared a separate step-by-step guide for research funding organisations that you can find here.

In order to view videos and webinars or further tools and resources on the topics discussed in step 1, switch between the respective tabs. Otherwise, click below to continue to the next step and learn how to analyse and assess the gender equality state of play in your institution.

Understand the context

  • The strategies for effecting gender equality and institutional change (StratEGIC) toolkit provides multiple resources, including videos, and shares lessons on how to implement institutional change. Watch the video ‘Perspectives on the role of context in shaping change’.

Understanding the gender mainstreaming cycle

  • The EU project SPEAR prepared video presentations to help practitioners understand the steps involved in implementation of a GEP. The videos are based on the steps provided in this GEAR step-by-step guide. Watch the videos on steps 1 and 2 to get a better understanding of how the process works and what to consider in these steps. Note that there are also tasks for you to perform at the end of some of the videos, to check your understanding of the topics. 
    GEAR tool – steps 1 and 2

Understand the context

  • In order to find more details and examples of how the key contextual factors provided by Austin and Laursen (2015) may affect your decisions, read the full report.
  • You may also want to take a look at the guidelines prepared within the ‘Evaluation framework for promoting gender equality in research and innovation’ (EFFORTI) project: What to Consider Regarding Context? A guideline. These guidelines emphasise the importance of considering the context, not only to identify the appropriate measures for your institution, but also to monitor and evaluate these measures later on.