Transparent And Resilient Gender Equality Through Integrated Monitoring Planning and Implementation

Project Information

TARGETED-MPI

Grant agreement ID: 872260

DOI

10.3030/872260

Project closed

EC signature date 20 May 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 October 2024

Funded under

• Promote gender equality in particular by supporting structural change in the organisation of research institutions and in the content and design of research activities

Total cost

€ 2 476 476,25

EU contribution

€ 2 476 476,25

Coordinated by

ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS - RESEARCH CENTER
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TARGETED-MPI (Transparent And Resilient Gender Equality Through Integrated Monitoring Planning and Implementation)

Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

TARGETED-MPI aimed at addressing gender inequality in Business and Management (B&M) schools through the development and effective implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). The complex and multidisciplinary nature of B&M schools constitutes an important academic and research site to examine GE. The specific objectives were:
-Increasing women's participation in Research and Innovation (R&I) in B&M Schools and the Higher Education (HE) sector
-Enhancing gender balance in decision-making processes and governing bodies of research organizations, including equal representation on boards, committees, and leadership roles
-Incorporating gender dimension in R&I ensuring that the research agenda reflects diverse perspectives
-Addressing knowledge and research gaps to advance the State-of-the-Art (SoA) in GE debates
-Disseminating and sharing its findings and practices with the broader community of European and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) B&M schools

TARGETED-MPI, after 4 years of impactful implementation, has addressed gender inequalities in 5 B&M schools in GR, SE, BE, UK & LB. TARGETED-MPI employed a participatory, action-oriented iterative framework for the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the GEPs grounded on a comprehensive SoA & State-of-Practice (SoP) review associated with GE issues, shedding light on the contextual factors affecting the actual deployment and monitoring of GEPs in Partner Institutions. The objectives were addressed throughout the implementation of TARGETED-MPI GEPs which are the main instruments underpinning structural changes in the partner institutions.
The implemented GEPs include actions on a variety of GE issues such as:
-Fostering GE in research/academic careers: partners delivered GE training for inclusive and bias free HR processes, reduced workload for researchers/academics with care duties, adopted hybrid models of work, established mentoring plans for faculty members and used gender inclusive language in the official documents
-Promoting gender balance in decision-making: partners actively promoted women's role models and implemented supportive measures to enhance gender balance in leadership positions. As a result, most of the partners improved women’s representation in leadership positions
-Integrating the gender dimension in R&I content: partners introduced GE topics in curricula and delivered GE trainings addressed to internal and external researchers/academics
-Addressing knowledge and research gaps to advance the state of the art in GE debates: the project includes open access deliverables, scientific publications, and conference papers on GE topics
-Disseminating and sharing its findings and practices: partners attended and participated in national and international events where they gave lectures and presentations advocating for GE, such as the Academy of Management Annual Conference (AoM), the Careers Division Conference (CarCon), and other MENA webinar series. TARGETED-MPI Partners organized more than 20 events, produced flyers, videos, podcasts, published blogposts and articles in university websites, newspapers and magazines and external press.

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 Project's main results are:
-TARGETED-MPI reviewed and synthesized the SoA and SoP to map GE issues in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
-The SoA review and synthesis led to the development of a multilayer conceptual model for identifying and classifying the factors that affect GE in HEIs and act as barriers against the creation of a gender-balanced academic working environment. The report is open access serving as ready to use guidelines for interested institutions
-The Green Paper, including the synthesis of the SoA and SoP and the results of the 1st Stakeholders’ Workshop mapping specific GE issues in Partner Institutions, developed and made publicly available
-Based on the Green paper, focus groups and interviews, the use of the innovative tool of “cultural web” to elicit underlying biases, and the multilayer conceptual model, GEPs developed, implemented, monitored and evaluated in 2 iterative phases. The results of the 2nd Phase Implementation are publicly available
Notable specific examples ensuring the sustainability of the abovementioned horizontal results include:
-A toolkit for developing GEPs
-Establishment and operation beyond the Project’s lifetime of Gender Equality Observatories (GEOs) in 5 Partner Institutions
-An online roundtable as a GEO event on "Advancing GE in B&M Schools" serving as a platform for networking and exchange of good practices
-Three Policy Briefs addressing the GEP development, implementation and monitoring in HEIs, and B&M schools that can be adapted depending on institutional GE maturity and specific context and encourage a holistic reimagining the GEP process
-A Final Conference titled “B&M Schools for Shaping Inclusive and Diverse Workplaces” organized on 15/10/2024, engaging 70 stakeholders in person and online.
Project findings were disseminated to the broader academic networks, research community of B&M Schools, sister projects and society at large in Europe and MENA. Notable highlights include the organization of 2 Symposia and 1 Professional Development Workshop at the AoM in 2022 & 2023, participation in the Final GLOMO Conference in 2022, a paper presentation at the CarCon 2024, links with Sister projects (Equal4Europe, CALIPER, LETsGEPs) and academic networks such as the Hellenic Association of University Women, the Network of the Greek Universities Gender Equality Committees and CIVICA–The European University of Social Sciences.

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 progress beyond the SoA, achieved through the development of an integrated methodological approach includes:

-Adaptation and use of the cultural web as a gender-aware diagnostic tool that helps reveal deeper, implicit issues of how inequality is embedded in structures, processes, practices and systems, providing input for developing context-specific GEPs
-Feminist participatory action-based research that engaged stakeholders to challenge and question taken-for-granted assumptions on gender inequality
-A multi-layer conceptual model that identifies and classifies factors affecting GE in HEIs, and supports the systematic development of GEPs
-Action based, collaborative approach that engaged internal stakeholders including top and middle management, students, academic and administrative staff throughout the implementation process
-Two-phase GEP design-implementation-monitoring-evaluation

In a nutshell, TARGETED-MPI in the Partner Institutions contributed in diminishing barriers to recruitment, retention and career progression of women academics/researchers; integrated the gender dimension in R&I content; improved the gender balance in decision-making bodies; improved work life balance; created a safer working/academic environment.
TARGETED-MPI also influenced numerous research organizations in Europe and beyond regarding context-specific development and effective implementation of GEPs; achieved multiplying effects beyond the Partner Institutions by developing tools and methodologies underpinning the planning, implementation, and monitoring of GEPs, providing lessons learnt and policy guidelines. This success was augmented by forging links with existing initiatives and collaborating with other B&M Schools, and by engaging in the process the broader academic community, private sector and society at large.

Final Conference