With the draft of the Ljubljana Declaration, the Slovenian Council Presidency presents a roadmap to make gender equality in research a reality across Europe.
‘Deepening the European Research Area (ERA) through Gender Equality’ was the main theme of the final conference of the Horizon 2020-funded project GENDERACTION jointly organized with the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU from 8 to 9 July 2021. As part of the EU’s plan to step up efforts aimed at advancing gender equality in research and innovation (R&I) across Europe, the conference provided an opportunity for Member States, ERA stakeholders and experts not only to take stock of the progress made in in recent years, but also to discuss the next steps to address challenges under the new ERA. Against this background, the Slovenian Presidency presented the outlines of the Ljubljana Declaration, a call to make gender equality in research a reality at national and EU level.
In her opening speech, Simona Kustec, the Slovenian Minister of Education, Science and Sport, stated that overall progress in achieving gender equality within Europe has been too slow, thus calling for the prioritisation of the subject in the new ERA. Referring to the She Figures 2018, Kustec highlighted that the debate around gender in research should be evidence based, so that issues can be better identified and tackled. The She Figures reveal that, although the quota of women in the EU holding a doctoral degree is nearly at 50%, women only account for 33.4% of active researchers, and only 22% of higher positions in higher education institutions are occupied by women. Furthermore, more than three fourth of professors in the EU are male. To this, Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, added that only 8 out of 100 startups in the EU are founded by women and merely 11% of patent holders are female. Research by UNESCO suggests that, globally, the rate of employed female scientists is higher in countries with a democratic system. However, glass walls remain a widespread phenomenon within research organisations and culture worldwide.
A joint proposal by the current trio Council Presidency (Germany, Portugal and Slovenia) and its successor (France, Czech Republic and Sweden), the draft declaration builds on the EU’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. Following a bottom-up approach, it calls on the Member States and other countries to work together with the European Commission to ensure that career paths in research are gender balanced, open and inclusive. To mainstream gender equality in research, national governments should adopt an intersectional approach, foster mutual learning and leverage synergies with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI) and the EU’s Global Approach to R&I. Moreover, they should build on a form-follows-function governance structure supporting the use of tools such as Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) to stimulate institutional change and remove systemic barriers. The draft further points at the need for setting concrete targets and the development of monitoring and evaluation tools to measure progress. It also underlines how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had negative gendered impacts on women and other vulnerable groups. For a just transition and recovery, it is vital that the effects of the health crisis on research careers are assessed and that gendered and intersectional analysis becomes the norm. Such efforts will be supported by reforms and investments under the European Semester.
Gabriel complemented Kustec’s opening statement by saying that “no country is really gender equal in R&I”, and called for joint action to advance gender equality in the new ERA. To this end, the EC has introduced a number of measures under Horizon Europe: As of 2022, public bodies, higher education institutions and research organisations are required to have a GEP in place to be eligible for funding. GEPs must include a formal commitment to gender equality, dedicated financial resources, arrangements for data collection and monitoring, as well as training and capacity-building actions. The plans help to address gender equality in recruitment and career progression, gender balance in leadership and decision-making, work-life balance and organisational culture, as well as measures to prevent gender-based violence. Existing examples of GEPs have shown that they serve as effective tools to achieve long-term sustainable institutional change. Another newly introduced measure makes the inclusion of the gender dimension in R&I content in Horizon Europe proposals mandatory. Moreover, the EC aims to raise the quota of women in boards, expert groups and evaluation committees to 50%. Efforts should build on synergies with education and innovation to boost the participation of women and girls in disruptive technologies and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
Gender equality – next to European Partnerships, the ERA and international cooperation – constitutes one of the Slovenian Presidency’s key priorities in research for the coming six months. The final version of the Ljubljana Declaration is expected to be presented at the formal Competitiveness Council (COMPET) meeting end of September.