GenderAction: Main Results of Year Number 1
A year ago the GENDERACTION project was launched to establish a policy platform to support the implementation of gender equality in the European Research Area (ERA) at the level of member states and associated countries. The GENDERACTION consortium consists of 13 organisations from 12 countries and 5 Associate Partners from additional five countries. GENDERACTION closely cooperates with the ERAC Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation (SWG GRI). The main tools GENDERACTION employs are: networking of national representatives, sharing experience among policy makers and other relevant stakeholders, organizing training and mutual learning events and developing new collaborations to advance gender equality in science, technology and innovation.
In phase 1 we focused on three activities. First, an analysis of the published National Action Plans (NAPs) in Priority 4 was carried out, followed by a questionnaire survey distributed among members of the Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation, to map NAPs implementation, with 82% return rate. The aim of this survey was to find out on what priorities individual states focus, what measures they adopt and what indicators they use to monitor implementation. The analysis revealed large differences across countries as well as different levels of integrating gender equality policies.
Mutual Learning Workshop in ViennaOn 7 and 8 February 2018, the first Mutual Learning Workshop took place in Vienna, attended by 38 people from 17 countries. The workshop aimed at developing criteria for good practice of policy design, monitoring and implementation. The second mutual learning workshop is planned for early 2019 and will focus on NAP indicators and monitoring.
The second key activity in the first year was the topic of gender in Open Science and Open Innovation (OSI). This area was selected for its highly topical nature and the fact that gender fails to be addressed in most policy documents focused on the topic. GENDERACTION prepared a report to enhance gender dimension in OSI policies, which reveals that most analyses and policy documents related to Open Science (OS) and/or Open Innovation (OI) adopt a gender blind approach, especially in the case of OS. We also organized a workshop in Brussels, during which we discussed the relevance of OSI with a number of stakeholders, including experts on OS and gender equality. We will keep continue to develop collaborations to enhance gender equality in OSI in relevant institutions.
The third area was gender equality in international cooperation in technology, research and innovation. Our activities build on a joint report of two ERAC groups – the Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation and the Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC), which was published in January 2018. Our aim was to develop guidelines on a gender perspective for international cooperation in research, technology and innovation.
For more go on the website and/or Twitter GENDERACTION_EU.