Feminist Institutionalist Approach to Gender Equality in STEMM

Project Information

FIAGES

Grant agreement ID: 793195

DOI

10.3030/793195

Project closed

EC signature date 2 May 2018

Start date 3 September 2018

End date 2 September 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 187 866,00

EU contribution

€ 187 866,00

Coordinated by

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FIAGES (Feminist Institutionalist Approach to Gender Equality in STEMM)

Reporting period: 2018-09-03 to 2020-09-02

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

“Feminist Institutionalist Approach to Gender Equality in STEMM” (FIAGES) applied FI in an innovative way to public and private institutions, academic departments and high tech companies, seen as a continuum from training, to employment, and building a career, but also, potentially, sources of a variety of discriminating situations. Adding the lens of feminist institutionalism to the theories available allows a richer understanding of the culture of GE policy transformations in public and private sectors, as different narratives of policy transformation counteract the potential shortcomings of analysis based on a single lens.
Progress in GE depends on strong congruent narratives supporting GE in academic and workplace organisations, particularly STEM disciplines and high tech companies. Studying and working in organisations with a satisfactory level of gender equality can foster gender-sensitive innovation in STEM fields in academia and high tech companies, creating a virtuous circle that reinforces GE’s culture.
FIAGES hypothesised that when narratives are non-congruent, non-supportive or congruent and non-supportive, GE does not progress, while congruent and supportive narratives will favour progress in GE.
The research focused on Ireland and Italy, and its specific objectives were to:
1) Gain a greater understanding of the co-constitutive nature of promotion of GE in two sectors interconnected: academy (STEM disciplines) and high tech companies. 2) Explore the various roles that individuals play within the selected institutions to promote GE and bring about or resist gender-sensitive change; 3) Understand how these institutions/organisations shape individual behaviours through the construction of rules, norms, and policies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The FIAGES' research general objectives were to explore the state of the art; to answer the research questions; to produce the outcomes and the outputs.
The FIAGES project’s work included two macro phases:
• The first macro-phase involved a literature review, short visits to Universities and high-tech Companies in Ireland and Italy to study strategies to improve GE in STEM-related fields/sectors. Twenty semi-structured interviews allowed to collect current and updated information about the most recent trends in the fields and explore the degree to which participation in EU and national initiatives can promote similar outcomes by adopting positive actions. The interviews were conducted with gender equality and diversity experts working in Italian and Irish universities and high tech companies. Participants were chosen using a non-probability sampling technique: snowball sampling, starting from a list of experts, known for their professional roles and publications focused on career progression.
• The second macro-phase consisted of contacting academies and companies to be selected as case studies. A total of 25 organisations were contacted, leading to five case studies selected. The second macro-phase drew on a mix of primary and secondary sources, including 34 semi-structured interviews with women and men working in senior positions in high-tech organisations, the official vision and mission of the enterprises sourced from websites and online videos, and public interviews and data on the enterprises’ gendered policies.
The main results of the two macro phases were:
Macro phase 1:
Different interpretations of the term “gender” emerged from the participants’ discourses, influencing formal and informal institutional practices, and their impact on implementing gender equality strategies in Academia and ICT companies. Referring to a two-sex model and promoting a binary sex-gender notion, organisations may conceal the crucial issues of intersectionality and critical reflections
regarding the impact of neoliberal policies and societal challenges on the progression towards gender equality and diversity.
Macro phase 2:
Data analysis revealed positive forces towards gender equality in the career progression: the numerous formal and informal strategies implemented by the enterprises, the perceived influences of non-formal institutional rules, and the coherence between legislation, internal rules and policies and the organisation’s stated values. However, other aspects, less visible to the experts themselves, may retard the progress toward equality, particularly a polarised vision of individual characteristics of men and women, a focus on maternity-related formal and informal strategies and the tendency to attribute to external causes the problems in reaching more balance.
In both macro phases, the research reveals that harmonised strategies, focusing on shared priorities and respecting cultural, political and social diversity, could accelerate gender equality in academia and the high tech sector.
The results were disseminated to the scientific community and society through publications, webinars, workshops, and online training. The exploitation of the outcomes and outputs is still an ongoing process after the end of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The FIAGES project has reached its primary goal, promoting the research impact on the economy and society. ERA, EIT and HORIZON EUROPE require integrating gender equality issues and the gender mainstreaming at each stage of the research cycle: from programming through implementation, monitoring and programme evaluation. The FIAGES results may inform all these stages, paying attention also to diversity and inclusion.
The FIAGES project applied Feminist Institutionalism to the High-Tech sector and Academia, but its results are much broader as they address the key EU societal issues of gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
So far, the research results have reached a vast audience, including stakeholders in the third sector and administrative sectors in regional and national political bodies.
The FIAGES results can generate substantial societal direct and indirect societal benefits by identifying undetected forms of discrimination and the inclusion of marginalised or excluded groups in organisations willing to do so but lack appropriate knowledge and practical strategies.
The research methodology adopted in FIAGES: a) may benefit any private or public organisation interested in adopting strategies to create more inclusive organisations b) may be applied in other countries to identify the main obstacles to structural change c) could be used as a starting point to address gender, diversity and inclusion topics in an intersectional way.

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