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2nd Unesco-IESALC report sets 10 ways for universities to address gender equality
The second Unesco-IESALC’s report on “Gender Equality: How global universities are performing” came up with 10 recommendations for universities to tackle gender inequality in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5.
The report – published in collaboration with the Unesco International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, finds that increasing numbers of universities globally are reporting data on their performance on gender equality indicators, with particular growth in Asia.
A growing number are also training faculty on gender equality and implementing a gender perspective in existing or new academic programs and research projects, increasing their efforts to facilitate the impact of female researchers and advocating for gender equality beyond their campus walls.
However, despite making up more than half of higher education students, women are still under-represented as lecturers, researchers and particularly leaders. In all regions, universities are more likely to focus on providing access and support to women than on measuring their progress and success. And most universities are unable to provide relevant evidence of their policies and services that support women’s advancement, as revealed in the first THE/Unesco-IESALC report on gender equality, which was published in March. This suggests that while certain codes may ostensibly be in place, they are not necessarily being implemented across institutions.
The 10 recommendations:
The recommendations urged to “devise a comprehensive approach to tackling gender inequality”. Making substantial progress requires a long-term vision supported by the senior leadership team; an official set of values and regulations, which are enforced; and dedicated staff or offices that are responsible for gender equality initiatives at the departmental level. Ensure that there is regular communication between the departments, centers and units that undertake gender equality initiatives.
The second recommendation is “involving the entire university community.” Bring together students, staff and academics of all genders to identify examples of gender bias and devise solutions. Embed activities into teaching programs, research projects and staff workloads to ensure that gender equality is recognized and valued.
The third one is moving beyond focusing on ‘women in STEM’. Not all STEM subjects suffer from female underrepresentation at the student level. Examine trends at a more granular discipline level to ensure that gender equality measures are targeted appropriately. The underrepresentation of male students in some subjects is also an issue that has implications for women and should not be overlooked.
The fourth recommendation is introducing more initiatives focusing on the progress and success of women. Improving access for female students and staff is important but not sufficient. Universities need to ensure they also track success rates and outcomes for women, compared with men. It is critical to periodically review these data and use them as a base to make evidence-based decisions that improve women’s outcomes.
The fifth one is going beyond national policies and laws. Legal frameworks relating to gender equality have improved in most countries in the past decade and these regulations are helpful in providing a basic set of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment red lines. But to successfully make progress on gender equality and change their internal cultures, universities should be more ambitious and develop their own internal regulations and policies, which can better target their own gaps in gender equality.
The sixth recommendation is ensuring that policies and services are widely communicated and implemented. Policies and services relating to gender equality are only worthwhile if they are known by the university community and enforced across the institution as a whole. Details of policies and services should ideally also be made publicly accessible to enable the general public to hold the institution accountable for their commitments.
The seventh one is regularly reviewing gender equality policies. Existing policies should be examined at least every five years and, if necessary, updated to reflect changing trends, local contexts and best practices.
The eighth recommendation is do not be put off by resistance. Making change is not easy and resistance to new initiatives and policies is inevitable. Accept this early on and focus on how any challenges can be overcome.
The report also called to regularly collect and analyze gender-disaggregated data, The state of gender equality at a given institution can only be properly understood by using data. The THE impact indicators provide a good starting point for the data that should be routinely collected and analyzed to measure and report your progress.
The last recommendation is to engage with gender equality experts in other sectors outside higher education. This could involve discussing the best ways to measure or tackle gender inequality.
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