All about the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality
15 February 2011 will mark a milestone in the implementation of research-orientated standards on gender equality. On this date, the members of the DFG will submit their interim reports illustrating the ways in which they are offering the men and women at their institutions equal opportunities for successful professional development. To allow members to discuss their experiences in implementing the standards before submitting their reports – and thus to make compiling the reports easier – DFG Vice President Professor Ferdi Schüth invited members to an information event on 27 October 2010 organised by the “Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality” working group. 125 people from the DFG’s member institutions travelled to Bonn’s Wissenschaftszentrum (Science Center) for the event. As well as the equality officers from the member institutions, this number included numerous representatives from management and administrative departments – not just from universities, but also from non-university research institutions.
First, Professor Ferdi Schüth und Professor Susanne Baer reported on the first implementation phase of the “Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality” working group. Then Barbara Riesche from the DFG’s Head Office presented the guidelines for the 2011 interim reports. These guidelines are intended to help members compile their reports and can be downloaded from the DFG website. In the afternoon, the Dresden University of Technology and the Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Freiburg presented their successful gender equality concepts and took questions from the floor. The concluding discussion, which was moderated by the Secretary General of the DFG, Dorothee Dzwonnek, facilitated a lively exchange between the participants and the members of the working group.
All in all, those present agreed that the implementation of the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality is an important joint process between the DFG and the institutions involved. While they agreed that much has already changed, they consider it important to continue this initiative into the future, and to implement it consistently. Although each institution’s circumstances are different, those participating in the discussion maintained that many positive changes have been initiated and that all institutions have taken steps in the right direction. All the participants have, they agreed, learned a great deal from one another and have benefited from the constant communication between the member institutions and the DFG Head Office. In view of this, the DFG Head Office also considers the information event to be an important step in this process.
Please note that the following information is only available in German:
- Speech by Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth / Prof. Dr. Susanne Baer: Report by the “Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality” working group on the initial implementation phase (pdf | 235 KB)
- Speech by Dr. Barbara Riesche: Presentation of the new guidelines for interim reports (pdf | 321 KB)
- Case Study: The Technical University of Dresden - Prof. Dr. Karl Lenz (pdf | 213 KB)
- Case Study: The University of Duisburg-Essen - Ingrid Fitzek (pdf | 361 KB)
- Case Study: Freiburg University - Prof. Dr. Heiner Schanz (pdf | 265 KB)
- Further Information on the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality
