Success factors for gender equality plan development and implementation

A number of elements can be pointed out as supporting gender equality work in research organisations and research funding bodies. These are success factors for effective and sustainable change. When these success factors are present in an organisation, the efforts towards gender equality are more likely to succeed.

Promote gender equality plan support and collaboration within and outside the organisation

Almost every organisational endeavour is more likely to succeed if it is a collective effort. In this regard, the following success factors can be considered as relevant for gender equality work.

Establish effective gender equality structures and embed the gender equality plan into these or other existing structures

In order to ensure sustainability, structures are key. In this regard, the following success factors can be considered as relevant for gender equality work.

Follow an evidence-based gender equality work approach

Evidence from your own organisation can give you orientation on where to start and how to shape the future direction of your organisation. Regular dissemination of data and the impact of activities can also be beneficial to uphold stakeholders’ attention and engagement. In this regard, the following success factors can be considered as relevant for gender equality work.

Find the balance between clear and fixed goals and objectives, and their flexible and creative implementation

Gender equality work and plans are a complex undertaking, so navigating the process can be challenging. In this regard, the following success factors can be considered as relevant to gender equality work.

  • In this video from the project ‘Gender equality in the European research area community to innovate policy implementation’ (GENDERACTION) project, good-practice criteria on how to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of existing gender equality policies in research and innovation are presented.
  • In this webinar from the ‘Gender equality in information science and technology’ (EQUAL-IST) project, the topic of sustainability of GEPs and structural change measures – also addressing success factors – is discussed.
  • In this video from the project ‘Taking a reflexive approach to gender equality for institutional transformation’ (TARGET), Paola Bello of the Fondazione Regionale per la Ricerca Biomedica explains how strong institutional commitment can facilitate the implementation of a GEP.

 

Literature

Palmén, R. and Kalpazidou Schmidt, E. (2019), ‘Analysing facilitating and hindering factors for implementing gender equality interventions in R & I: structures and processes’, Evaluation and Program Planning, Vol. 77, p. 101726.

Espinosa, J., Bustelo, M. and Velasco, M. (2016), Report from Eportfolio: Successes and challenges in the implementation of gender equality action plans, GENOVATE project, University of Bradford.

Lansu, M., Bleijenbergh, I. and Benschop, Y. (2019), ‘Seeing the system: systemic gender knowledge to support transformational change towards gender equality in science’, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 26, pp. 1589–1605.

Cacace, M., Balahur, D., Bleijenbergh, I., Falcinelli, D., Friedrich, M. and Kalpazidou Schmidt, E. (2015), Structural Transformation to Achieve Gender Equality in Science – Guidelines, STAGES project.

Stewart, A. J. and Valian, V. (2018), An Inclusive Academy: Achieving diversity and excellence, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.