Budgeting for enhanced gender equality in science
The ‘Gender budgeting as an instrument for managing scientific organisations to promote equal opportunities for women and men - with the example of universities’ (GB_Management) project was designed to determine which factors and phases of budget formulation at scientific organisations are sensitive to gender equality issues. Specifically, the researchers applied a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to budget information at university science departments in three European countries. They determined the general processes of budget planning, importance of ‘power’ relationships and whether or not gender equality was a factor in budget planning. Other areas of focus included the degree to which budget planning affected gender equality, the stakeholders in the budget process and university gender equality representatives. Researchers on the GB-Management project used the data to develop preliminary steps for incorporating gender issues into budgeting for enhanced gender equality. Careful testing and evaluation should enable extrapolation of the findings at university science departments to a model GB_Management system generally applicable to scientific organisations on a national and EU level.
