Author: Siv Haugan (RCN).
What kind of measures can be useful to improve gender balance in senior positions and research management in academia? In relation to the GENDER-Net Plus GA, the Norwegian partner organized a seminar where four innovative measures for structural change were presented.
These four concrete examples are results from the Norwegian BALANSE-program on Gender Balance in Senior Positions and Research Management. This is a policy-oriented program at the Research Council of Norway, with a ten-year program period (2012–2022).
More than 70 participants from RFO and other institutions all over Europe participated in the seminar June 15th. 16 participated live from Brussels and the rest joined digitally.
“Our aim has been to bring out these good examples to inspiration for others”, says Ingeborg Owesen, coordinator for the Norwegian BALANSE-program.
The Balancinator (Lilli Mittner & Matthias Mittner, UiT)
The UiT Gender Balancinator for Organizations is a free and open-source software to visualize distribution of men and women within a specific unit. It was originally created in 2020 by Lilli Mittner & Matthias Mittner. The Balancinator allows anyone to build generic plots by inserting simple excel sheets instead of writing programming code: Balancinator | UiT. More about Balancinator
Where does the shoe pinch? Workshop framework to identify institutional pressure points (Lynn Nygaard, PRIO)
If measures to improve gender balance are to succeed, they need to be tailored to the specific institutional culture – when it comes to identifying both where the problem is and what to do about it. But how do you get at where the shoe pinches in YOUR organization? This is a workshop framework that will allow you to harvest bottom-up experiences from different corners of your organization. It can be tailored and facilitated it for your organization.
The GENDIM Digital Toolbox for gender balance among faculty (Vivian Anette Lagesen, NTNU)
This toolbox offers a way of assessing, learning about and improving gender inclusion measures in higher education institutions. The effect of efforts towards gender inclusion can be evaluated in a number of ways: at the organizational level (e.g. present situation analysis), on the individual level (e.g. individual career advancement), and the process level (e.g. quality of actions implemented). It is designed to be used predominantly on a departmental level and also on faculty level.
12 Recommendations & measures to improve gender balance in academia (Ingeborg W. Owesen, RCN)
In light of experience gained under the Program/BALANSE, the Research Council has compiled 12 recommendations and measures for improving gender balance in academia. These recommendations and measures have been shown to have a clear, positive effect and can be implemented by all institutions and organizations. However, there is no easy fix to achieving gender balance; the most pivotal factor is ensuring that the management at all levels is united in the effort to address gender balance.
