C. Designing Equality Actions
This final section is devoted to how to design equality actions on the basis of a diagnosis of inequality. Different aspects influencing the design process are discussed in this section.
C1 – As with assessment, first step to take is that of defining the scope of action: single departments or units; divisions; the entire hospital or university. Some suggestions are given in this regard.
C2 – The second topic is understanding which actions can be implemented and who may promote them. A discussion is also proposed about how to develop equality actions and, when possible, a more comprehensive equality action plan.
C3 – Other two pivotal issues are then introduced: how to involve the leaders and how to ensure long-term sustainability to the action designed.
C4 – Finally, a few words are devoted to the spirit underlying this Resource Tool: pushing CM/ID professionals to develop their own approach to inequality which could be fully tailored on features and needs of their own institution.
Making a diagnosis of inequality in the working environment is necessary to understand which are the major problems to address, establish priorities and identify which measures can be realistically adopted. In fact, the possible initiatives to promote may be of different type and nature, including: e.g., awareness-raising actions (campaigns, public meetings, web-based debates, etc.); provision of new services and support schemes (childcare facilities, flexible working hours, mentoring initiatives, etc.); new regulations and procedures (concerning recruitment and promotion, language used in the official documents, harassment and bullying, etc.) and establishment of new structures (gender equality office, diversity managers, etc.).
However, moving from diagnosis to action is a long step to take and some attention is needed for preventing disappointing results. Hence the need to set up a thoughtful design process which is as detailed and comprehensive as possible.
Providing some tips to design equality-oriented actions is the aim of this section.
C1. Defining the scope of action
Even more than assessment, designing equality actions requires a clear identification of the scope of the actions to implement, e.g., a single department or laboratory, a hospital division, a faculty, the university or the hospital as a whole. It is quite trivial to say that the larger the scope, the higher the complexity involved.
Defining the scope of the action is important for many reasons: e.g., setting the objectives; selecting the targets of the actions; identifying the concerned offices and leaders; assessing the resources which are to be deployed.
There are no specific guidelines to follow for defining the scope of action. Nevertheless, some suggestions can be given (see Box 6).
Box 6
Some suggestions for defining the scope of action
There are many different possible cases defining who makes the inequality diagnosis. Some examples are given below. Identify yours...
When defining the scope of equality-oriented actions, it is important to consider the following aspects.
- The scope of the action should be consistent with that of the diagnosis
- The scope of action should also be tailored on the available resources
- Some inequality issues can be addressed only at the level of the entire organization. In defining the scope of the action, it is necessary to be aware that, depending on local contexts, some inequality problems cannot be coped with at the level of single department or laboratory and sometimes not even at the level of the division or faculty. For example, pay gap or equal access to leadership positions cannot in general be managed at the smallest organizational level since they often require changes at the level of the institution (e.g., hospital, university, research organization). Therefore, the scope of action may be different according to the type of problems to be dealt with.
- The scope can be defined so as to leverage upon existing policies and measures. In many organizations or national contexts, specific policies and measures are in place for promoting equality and diversity management. Mapping such policies and measures can be useful for defining the scope of the action in a way which may facilitate to get support and to access available resources.
- The scope might be gradually enlarged over time. It is to keep in mind that the scope of action may be enlarged over time. For example, it may be useful to start with actions which can be immediately designed and conducted at the level of a single department or laboratory so as to get some first visible results and only then enlarge the scope of action in order to address problems requiring the involvement of higher organizational units.
- The scope of an action may encompass more than one institution. There is also the possibility to define the scope of an action encompassing different institutions, such as local health authorities, national scientific societies or clusters of hospitals. This may institutionally reinforce and make more visible the actions made in each of the hospitals involved. Moreover, when a university hospital is concerned, the scope of action may preferably encompass both the hospital and the university, even though not all the university staff work in the hospital and not all the hospital staff work in the university.
- The scope may be defined through participatory approaches. The identification of the scope of action can be also identified using participatory approaches, e.g., on the occasion of a public presentation of the results of the diagnosis or organizing ad hoc initiatives.
C2. Which actions? Who designs them? And who implements them?
On the basis of the results of the diagnosis of inequality and the decision about the scope of action, it is possible to start with the design process of the actions to be implemented.
However, two preliminary questions are to be considered: who designs the actions? And who implements them? The answer largely depends on the institutional context and other variables. Some possible cases can be made in this regard (see Box 7).
Box 7
Who designs the actions? Who implements them? Some possible cases …
Who designs equality actions and who is going to implement them are two issues which evidently have an impact in coping with inequality issues. Some possible cases can be mentioned.
The "package" solution. In many cases, the team that carried out the inequality assessment is the same in charge of designing the actions and implementing them. In this way, the three operations are organized as phases of a unique process. This situation mainly occurs when funds are made available from the beginning and a strong institutional support is ensured.
The "step-by-step" solution. On the contrary, inequality assessment, design process and action implementation may be three different and separate activities. This may occur especially when funds and institutional involvement are not ensured from the beginning. Thus, the assessment may lead to collect enough resources to design possible actions and this step may in turn lead to get enough resources to initiate some of the planned actions. In this framework, each operation may be led by different players. For example, the assessment process and the design of some actions may be activated even by single health workers or groups of them, but the implementation of new measures will probably require the involvement of the management and at least some leaders (at the level of the single unit or the institution as a whole).
The "starting-from-practice" solution. It is to consider that even the order of the three steps may be changed. One can start with the implementation of a single action (e.g., an awareness-raising initiative, a course on gender issues, a mentoring scheme, etc.) so as to create a favorable context. This will allow for the recognition of the need of conducting an inequality assessment, with the involvement of other actors.
The "scaling up" solution. Finally, it is also possible that an initiative to promote equality in a single unit or sector of the institution may scale up to involve the entire organization. For example, in some cases, gender action plans promoted by the European Commission in specific faculties and managed by an ad-hoc team have led to the establishment of a gender plan at university level managed by university structures.
Over the time, many methods and tools have been developed to address multiple kinds of organizational inequality and favoring fairer conditions for all.
Some examples of methods and tools are provided with reference to gender inequality as well as to other or multiple forms of inequality. A schematic typology of some of the most used tools to fight inequality at the workplace is also offered.
It is important to bear in mind, particularly when resources are limited, that any action can be of critical importance, both in itself and as a "bridge" towards other actions to be launched in the future.
However, when a certain amount of resources are allocated, the development of action plans or similar long-term programs is often proposed, including different components and based on an integrated and holistic view of inequality-related problems.
Whatever the size and the number of actions, there are a set of aspects which should be considered in the designing process. An incomplete list of them is presented here.
C3. Leadership involvement and sustainability
Another key question pertaining to the design of equality actions concerns the involvement of the leaders of the organization. There are several reasons to seek such involvement and several strategies to attain that objective.
Beyond the involvement of leaders, it is equally important that the new proposed actions are permanently embedded in the institution. To this aim, the issue of the long-term sustainability of the actions should become part of the design process from the beginning in order to timely envisaging future institutional arrangements for each action carried out.
C4. A self-tailored approach
All the materials provided in this section as well as in the previous ones, cannot be understood as guidelines or, worse, prescriptions about how to deal with the problem of inequality in the CM/ID sector. Rather, they are to be viewed as resources for feeding a process which is fully in the hands of those who concretely promote equality actions in their own department, hospital or faculty.
There is in fact only one possible approach to address inequality, i.e., an approach which is fully tailored on the features and needs of the institution where the actions are going to be implemented. Even though there are recurrent patterns of inequality mechanisms, their actual mix differ from institution to another. Consequently, it is up to those who promote equality actions to find the most appropriate mix of solutions for neutralizing them or limiting their impacts.
Challenging gender inequality
A wide experience has been gained in the difficult task to counter gender inequality in the workplace. In this regards, different methods and tools have been developed. Some examples are provided below, selected from both healthcare services and university settings, which are the kinds of institution where CM/ID professionals prevalently work.
Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves
Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves
The Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, based in Granada (Spain) developed in 2010 a Gender Equality Plan, on the basis of a diagnosis previously carried out. The Plan includes different action areas, as summarized in the following scheme.
1. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION |
- Developing a checklist of criteria aimed at ensuring a non-sexist language in job and post vacancies and a gender balance in recruitment and selection process |
- Designating a person responsible for periodically reviewing gender unbalance in recruitment and selection conditions |
- Assessing the gender awareness levels of recruitment and selection committee members and other staff members indirectly involved in recruitment and selection processes. |
- Circulating the checklist among all member staff members involved with recruitment and selection |
- Establishing indicators allowing to assess the impact of the proposed measures and to ensure their follow-up |
2. HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL SEGREGATION, PROMOTION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
- Carrying out an in-depth analysis for identifying gender-related hindering factors to women's access to leadership positions, especially middle management positions |
- Establishing a record system of number of women and men involved with promotion processes (in all their phases) to access to leadership positions |
- Ensuring transparency in promotion criteria by disseminating them to all the staff though the usual communication means adopted within the hospital |
- Disseminating as far as possible the offers for middle management positions |
- Including representatives of the Hospital Equality Committee in the promotion process |
- Establishing indicators allowing to assess the impact of the proposed measures and to ensure their follow-up |
3. TRAINING |
- Ensuring a public dissemination of the training offer |
- Ensuring training on equal opportunities to all the managerial staff at the Hospital |
- Organizing training initiative using modes (trainings partially or totally based on the web) allowing participants the conciliation with family and personal duties |
- Improving indicators in the analysis of training initiatives from a gender perspective, in all its phases: applications, acceptance/rejection of the applications, participation in the courses/abandonment of the courses, satisfaction levels, impact evaluation |
- Assessing the features of training activities from both the professional and gender perspective, identifying barriers and facilitating factors to training opportunities. |
- Analyzing the need for incorporating training modules from a gender perspectives to produce an added value to existing training activities |
- Establishing indicators allowing to assess the impact of the proposed measures and to ensure their follow-up |
4. SALARY |
- Since the salary schemes adopted are established at the level of regional authorities, the hospital administration can act on gender pay gap only by promoting the actions geared to combating horizontal and vertical segregation (see section 2) |
5. WORK-LIFE BALANCE |
- Identifying the needs for work-life balance in order to develop new measures, by assessing the impact of the existing measures aimed at encouraging men to use parental leaves, carrying out a satisfaction pool about time shifts, developing a guidance or a database about support resources available internally and externally to the hospital and favoring the establishment of a "time bank" involving the staff |
- Promoting, when possible, teleworking allowing the workers to enjoy the same labor rights and career opportunities |
- Promoting as far as possible flexible time schemes |
- Organizing an awareness campaign on sharing responsibilities between women and men |
- Establishing indicators allowing to assess the impact of the proposed measures and to ensure their follow-up |
6. SEXUAL HARASSMENT |
- Establishment and implementation of internal procedures related to harassment |
- Creating an internal record about cases of sexual harassment |
- Using data collected through the staff survey to identify discriminatory dynamics grounded on sex as well as situations of psychological and sexual harassment |
7. HEALTH AT WORK |
- Making a gender analysis of data from the Assessment of risks at the Hospital and of risk prevention measures adopted |
- Developing gender-sensitive measures on the basis of the previous analysis |
- Promoting specific prevention measures connected to maternity and lactation |
- Organizing information sessions on health and health-related risks at work for women and men |
- Organizing training activities for the personnel in charge of risk prevention on the inclusion of a gender perspective in managing risks at work |
Sources:
- Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Consejeria de Salud (2010) Plan de igualdad del Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves (http://www.hvn.es/comp_hospitalario/responsabilidad_social/ficheros/planigualdadhuvn.pdf)
Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Ravenna
The Azienda Sanitaria Locale (Local Health Authority) of Ravenna developed in 2009 a Plan of Positive Actions 2010-2012. The Plan is coordinated by the Equal Opportunity Committee, established the same year.
The plan is summarized in the following scheme.
1. GENDER ANALYSIS |
- Periodical collection, organization, processing and interpretation of data on the staff from a gender perspective and their dissemination |
2. PROMOTION OF GENDER CULTURE |
- Production of information tools on gender issues, including a specific section of the organization's website devoted to gender equality, a periodical newsletter, videos and DVDs on equality-related legislation, regulations and initiatives |
- Training initiatives or modules on gender equality and diversity management for human resources managers and staff |
- Communication and information activities about functions and roles of the Equal Opportunities Committee |
- Seminars on gender roles in healthcare professions, including gender stereotypes |
- Establishment of a documentation archive on gender medicine |
- Annual conference on gender medicine |
3. WORK-LIFE BALANCE |
- Revision of the organization's rules and procedures about flexible time and part time and introduction of new measures |
- Measures to improve the access to the internal canteen, in terms of time and provisions, including the possibility to take the food away at the end of the time shift |
- Opening of a help desk on work-life balance, providing the staff with information and support about, e.g., rights, opportunities, legislation and rules |
- Establishment of vouchers paid by the organization allowing workers to by specific services, such as babysitting and caregiving |
- Services for the sons/daughters of the employees (kindergarten, post-school services, sport-related services, etc.) |
- Activities for workers returning from leaves (including, e.g., training activities, tutorship schemes, development of guidelines, development of customized support schemes) |
- Support to the career and training of part-time employees |
4. WOMEN'S CAREER DEVELOPMENT |
- Reviewing key organizational procedures related to women career development, in particular those pertaining to recruitment, selection and promotion, professional assessment criteria, career path and professional development |
- Training activities on women leadership |
5. CODE OF CONDUCT AND RIGHTS PROTECTION TOOLS |
- Adoption of a code of conduct favoring equality |
- Establishment of a reference officer for equality-related issues |
- Creation of help desks managed by employees in cooperation with the Women's anti-violence networks |
Sources:
- Servizio Sanitario Regionale Emilia Romagna, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale di Ravenna, Comitato Pari Opportunità (2009) Piano di Azioni Positive 2010-2012 (http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/consigliere-di-parita/organismi-di-parita/osservatorio-comitati-unici-di-garanzia-in-emilia-romagna/aziende-sanitarie-locali-aziende-ospedaliere-aziende-ospedaliero-universitarie-istituti-di-ricovero-e-cura-a-carattere-scientifico-pubblici/azienda-usl-di-ravenna/MicrosoftWordPAPaggiornato.pdf)
Sheffield Teaching Hospital
The Sheffield Teaching Hospital adopted in 2007 a Gender Equality Action Plan to be reviewed and improved each 2 years.
The actions included in the first Action Plan are summarized below.
Theme | Actions |
---|---|
One Consultation and involvement of staff and service users |
|
Two Assessing the impact of service functions, policies and proposed policies |
|
Three Recruitment |
|
Four Occupational segregation |
|
Five Managing flexible working |
|
Six Managing leave for parents and carers |
|
Seven Managing pregnancy and return from maternity leave |
|
Eight Sexual and sexist harassment |
|
Nine Transsexual staff and potential staff |
|
Ten Redundancy, Retirement, Grievance and disciplinary policies procedures |
|
Eleven Equal pay |
|
Twelve Training staff |
|
Thirteen Employment monitoring |
|
Fourteen Procurement |
|
Fifteen Partnerships |
|
Sources:
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust (2007) Gender Equality Scheme and Action Plan, April 2007 – 2010, First Edition (https://www.sth.nhs.uk/clientfiles/File/sthges.pdf)
Aarhus University
Under the EC-co-funded project "Structural Transformations to Achieve Gender Equality in Science" (STAGES), the Aarhus University, in Denmark, carried out a 3-year action plan aiming to structurally modify the organization so as to make it a fair institution for both women and men.
The Action Plan is summarized below.
Strategic Area | Actions |
---|---|
WOMEN-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT | A. Actions promoting
change in organizational culture and formal/ informal behaviors
B. Actions promoting work-life balance
C. Actions supporting early-stage career-development
|
GENDER-AWARE SCIENCE | Actions challenging
gender stereotypes and consequent horizontal segregation
|
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP IN SCIENCE | A. Actions promoting
women's leadership in the practice of research
B. Actions promoting women's leadership in the management of research
C. Actions promoting women's leadership in scientific communication
|
The STAGES Action Plan contributed to trigger a University Gender Plan, which is summarized in the following scheme. For each action, the scope is define (AU, i.e., the Aarhus University as a whole; Faculty level, department level, etc.).
Focus area 1: MANAGERIAL FOCUS ON GENDER EQUALITY | |
---|---|
Recommendations | Actions |
Policy for equality and diversity | AU level:
|
Action plans for more women in research 2015- 2020 | AU level:
Faculty as well as department/school and centre level:
|
Focus area 2: RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT | |
---|---|
Recommendations | Actions |
Clearer descriptions of required qualifications | AU level:
Faculty and department/school level:
Department/school/centre level:
|
Open recruitment and general job descriptions when advertising | Faculty level:
Department/school/centre level:
|
Diversity in the composition of assessment and appointment committees, as well as other councils, boards and committees | Faculty level:
Department/school/centre level:
|
Assessment of actual research time (exclusive of any leave of absence) | Faculty as well as department/school and centre level:
|
Focus area 3: TALENT DEVELOPMENT | |
---|---|
Recommendations | Actions |
Systematic talent and career | AU level:
Faculty level:
Department/school/centre level:
|
Development of career and development plans | Department/school/centre level:
|
Visible role models | AU and faculty level:
Department/school and centre level:
|
Focus area 4: INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY AND RESEARCH ABROAD | |
---|---|
Recommendations | Actions |
Financial support to cover extra expenses | AU and faculty level:
Faculty as well as department/school and centre level:
|
Focus area 5: AN ATTRACTIVE CULTURE | |
---|---|
Recommendations | Actions |
Create and advertise attractive working conditions | AU level:
AU, faculty as well as department/school and centre level:
|
Establishment of maternity/paternity leave funds | Faculty level:
|
Sources:
- Cacace M. et al (2015) Structural Transformation to Gender Equality in Science, Guidelines, STAGES Project, Rome (https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/prages-guidelines_en.pdf)
- Aarhus University (2016) Aarhus University's Action Plan for More Women in Research, 2016-2020 (http://medarbejdere.au.dk/fileadmin/www.medarbejdere.au.dk/hr/Politikker_strategier/AU_s_Handleplan_For_Flere_Kvinder_i_Forskning_final-da-en_gb-R2-C.pdf)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) has been developing a gender equality plan to favor equal treatment between women and men in the institution.
The main activities established for the period February 2014-May 2016 are summarized below.
Area of action | Actions |
---|---|
CAREER AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT |
|
GENDER ASPECTS IN RESEARCH AND TEACHING |
|
RECONCILIATION OF FAMILY AND RESEARCH |
|
SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF GENDER |
|
Sources:
- ETH Zurich (2014) Gender Action Plan (https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/associates/services/Anstellung-Arbeiten/chancengleichheit/Strategie_und_Zahlen/Gender%20Action%20Plan/ENG/Gender_Action_Plan_e_08_14.pdf)
Actions for promoting diversity
In many cases, rather than only focusing on gender inequality, institutions and organizations adopt a wider approach aimed at promoting staff diversity and contrasting inequality of any kind through a unique diversity management program.
This approach is often adopted by private companies (especially global companies) as well as public administrations based in countries characterized by a highly culturally, nationally and ethnically diversified population (such as USA, United Kingdom, or Belgium).
Some examples are provided below.
Royal Cornwall Hospitals
The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust developed in January 2016 an Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Policy in order "to build a fully inclusive organization". The policy is overseen by a specific committee, the Equality and Inclusion Steering Group. The actions aimed at implementing such a policy are summarized in the following scheme.
1. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION |
- Adoption of criteria in recruitment, selection and promotion practices provide equal access to all persons and are free from unfair or unlawful forms of discrimination |
- Adoption of criteria ensuring that advertisements do not contain working designed to convey restrictions upon eligibility to apply for employment other than through a genuine occupational requirement, qualification or experience |
- Plan of the advertisements ensuring that they are not unjustifiably confined to particular areas or publications, which would effectively exclude or inhibit applicants from varying backgrounds from applying |
- Adoption of criteria in order to make the workforce representative of the local working population |
- Adoption of criteria ensuring that at least one member of each recruitment panel have undertaken appropriate recruitment training |
2. TRAINING, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT |
- Mandatory equality training for all the staff either as a stand-alone course or as part of their induction program |
- Annual development review and personal development plan for every employee |
- Specific coaching, mentoring and career buddies for staff from minority ethnic groups |
- Reasonable adjustments for persons with impairments to access equal opportunities |
- Monitoring of attendances of staff members to learning and development facilities |
- Training and guidance on equality issues made available to managerial and supervisory staff |
- Inserting inclusion as an issue in all training materials and courses that are delivered internally, where applicable |
3. QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE |
- Adoption of flexible working practices |
- Reasonable adjustments in working time for employees with a declared impairment, wherever possible |
4. SUPPORTING RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL NEEDS |
- Adopting procedures to whether it is reasonably practicable to vary or adapt existing work requirements to enable religious and cultural needs of the staff to be met |
- Establishment of a multi-faith facility room and an ablutions facility for individuals who may wish to participate in religious observance whilst at work |
5. HANDLING COMPLAINTS OF UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATION |
- Adoption of criteria ensuring that all complaints are treated sensitively, confidentially, thoroughly and in a time manner |
- Adoption of procedures allowing any member of staff to make complaints |
- Adoption of procedures allowing any persons who consider to have been unfairly treated or discriminated against in the operation of the Recruitment and Selection Procedures to initiate a formal complaint via the recruitment team |
6. HARASSMENT AT WORK |
- Support procedures for individuals who believe that they have been harassed |
Sources:
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals (2016) Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Policy V3.4 (www.rcht.nhs.uk/GET/d10268876)
New York City University
The New York City University developed a Diversity Action Plan, focused on five principles, each of them supported with a set of strategies and measures.
The Diversity Action Plan is summarized below.
Principle One: Establish a Vision |
- Developing a vision about diversity and inclusion |
- Communicating the vision widely |
- Embedding the vision in the 5-year Master Plan of the University |
Principle Two: Encourage Proactive Leadership |
- Establishing the Advisory Committee on Strengthening Faculty Diversity (ACD) to monitor the implementation of the University's Diversity Action Plan. |
- Establishing the University Advisory Council on Diversity, charged with advising the vice chancellor for human resources management and the university dean for recruitment and diversity on ways to deepen the University's commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive community |
- Engaging university leaders in moving toward a new model of faculty recruitment and retention focused on diversity and inclusion instead of just headcount. This includes discussions on climate and culture, practices and policies that support a sense of belonging for all faculty, and acknowledgement of leaders who increase retention efforts and diversify the faculty |
- Establishing a Strategic Diversity Plan for each university campus, identifying specific activities that will be undertaken to increase faculty diversity and foster inclusion |
- Providing supplemental resources to help the colleges recruit and retain faculty who contribute to the diversity of the institution |
- Including diversity-related criteria in campus performance evaluations |
- Reporting the activities made by each campus diversity committees to the University Office of Recruitment and Diversity |
Principle Three: Strengthen Recruitment |
- Establishing a Scholar-In-Residence Program to attract outstanding scholars whose research, teaching, or service will contribute to diversity at the university |
- Establishing a Postdoctoral Fellowship Program to offer postdoctoral research fellowships, faculty mentoring, and eligibility for hiring incentives to outstanding scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, or service will contribute to increasing diversity at the university |
- Defining a search "tool kit" to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines for faculty searches. A tool kit will also be developed to outline creative options to attract, recruit, and hire diverse faculty |
- Organizing training initiatives by the University Office of Recruitment and Diversity about recruitment to support the efforts of campus diversity officers |
- Improving job descriptions in order to attract the widest range of qualified candidates possible |
- Ensuring that diversity officers meet with search chairs early in the search process to develop a plan for "pool-building" activities to attract diverse candidates |
- Encouraging departments to create diverse search committees, composed of individuals who have technical expertise in the discipline and a detailed understanding of the open position |
Principle Four: Improve Climate in Support of Retention |
- Organizing a competition to recognize departments that create innovative mentoring programs for junior faculty |
- Promoting networking activities within the university |
- Because work/life issues impact retention and may disproportionately affect the careers of academic women, widely communicating work/life benefits and services |
- Developing an "Inclusive and Respectful Workplace" training program for the campus diversity officers, on issues like: cross-cultural communication; managing diverse departments; and understanding commonalities and differences of perspectives and experiences that may be affected by race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other social identities |
- Establishing an electronic exit interview program to gather substantive information about why faculty members leave the university |
Principle Five: Clearly Delineate Accountability |
- Investigating and sharing external grant opportunities and funding that may enhance faculty diversity and provide support throughout the University |
- Organizing a biannual diversity conference that will provide a forum for faculty from across the academy to share research and learn best practices in the area of diversity and inclusion |
Sources:
- The City University of New York (2012) Building on a Strong Foundation: A Strategy for Enhancing CUNY's Leadership in the Areas of Faculty Diversity and Inclusion (https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/ohrm/diversity/DiversityActionPlan/DiversityActionPlan_Revised.pdf)
Types of action for equality: a map
Under the project "Practising Gender Equality in Science" (PRAGES), a set of guidelines have been developed on the basis of a wide analysis of practices and tools used by universities and research institutions to combat gender equality.
A part of the guidelines provides an overall map of practices which can be used for promoting equality, which can be also useful to identify appropriate measures to contrast inequality in the CM/MD professionals' working environment.
The map includes 31 tools or groups of tools, presented in alphabetical order. A summary of the map is given below.
1. Awards and
recognitions The delivery of awards and other forms of recognition (such as a mention in a magazine or in a website) to women or institutions is a way to acknowledge their excellence in specific fields. Awards are often associated with benefits (such as subscriptions to international journals and associations) and/or money. |
2. Best practices
collection The term "best practice" refers to any experience displaying techniques, methods or approaches which are considered to be particularly effective at delivering a specific outcome and, therefore, deserving to be disseminated to other organizational contexts. |
3. Books and reports Publishing books and reports is one of the most recognized tools for transferring complex knowledge and ideas in as complete and comprehensive a way as possible. In academic settings, books and reports tend to be structured as scientific products in order to acquire more visibility and influence, while outside academia they aim at a broader audience and are thus characterized by a less academic style and format. |
4. Charters The heading "charters" groups together those documents establishing principles, practices or reference standards which institutions are asked to voluntary adhere to. Unlike the dissemination and guidance packages (see below), charters typically have a political nature rather than a technical one, since the commitment process is designed as a public engagement which also entails public recognition of it (see the heading awards and recognitions above). The term "charters" may refer not to a simple document, but to a coordinated set of actions including, for example, the process of drafting the document, its dissemination among the interested institutions, the creation of commissions or similar structures with the authority to assess the application degree of the principles, practices and standards established in the charter by the institutions aspiring to adhere to it, or the development of forms of public recognition of the adhering institutions. |
5. Childcare services We refer here to childcare services established by the organization in which women work or study, financially supported by it and located within or close to the organization's offices (for example, on the university campus). |
6. Coaching Coaching is a method of training and directing individuals or groups, supporting them in acquiring new skills or achieving some specific goals. Coaching usually includes a large set of tools, such as workshops, supervised practical activities or training sessions. Coaching tends to be focused on personal development, both in the professional domain and in other spheres of life, and is therefore aimed at facilitating those who are coached in identifying, developing, enlarging and using their own potential, skills and knowledge. |
7. Committees Committees (or similar structures under different names, such as "commission", "task-force" or "working group") are usually established in organizations to perform one or more specific tasks as quickly as possible, on behalf of a superior body to which they report. The nature of the tasks can vary, including both strategic functions (such asdesigning action plans or devising measures) and organizational functions (such as coordinating activities or assessing programs). |
8. Consultations The term "consultation" refers here to sets of actions aimed at collecting inputs (opinions, suggestions, points of views) by the different players involved in a process of change such as designing new measures, taking new decisions or building a consensus around new measures and policies to be devised. Consultations can be formal and structured or highly informal. |
9. Databases Databases are another tool sometimes used by programs in support of women in science and technology. They usually contain structured data and information on women scientists and experts and are made available in either an open or a restricted way on the web. |
10. Direct contact Direct contact refers to face-to-face and personal interaction between those promoting a program or action supporting women and other individuals performing different roles, such as potential beneficiaries, experts or representatives of funding agencies. Since contacts of this kind are extremely widespread, they are not usually viewed as a "tool for action". However, they often play a key role for the success of a program. Moreover, the establishment of direct contacts is an objective explicitly pursued through different tools such as networking, mentoring, and some specific types of meetings. |
11. Dissemination and guidance
packages The term "dissemination and guidance packages" is used here to refer to the many kinds of products (mostly documents and books) aimed at documenting knowledge, know-how, experiences and information, such as guidelines, reference books, source books, handbooks or toolkits, so that they can be directly used by individuals and institutions without resorting to further support (such as mentors, trainers or information desks). These products are almost always downloadable from the web. |
12. Expressive and artistic
tools This heading groups together information and dissemination tools mainly of an expressive and artistic nature, such as documentaries, videos, exhibitions or theatrical performances. |
13. Grants, loans and
subsidies This heading includes all funds directly delivered for any purpose through an application process to individuals or institutions (also in the form of loans or subsidies). |
14. Information desks Information desks are sometimes used in the framework of programs aimed at promoting women in the science and technology sector. These services (with dedicated spaces and personnel) provide information on a specific set of issues, give answers to users' questions and sometimes provide them with direct assistance. |
15. Institutional
arrangements This heading refers to the creation of new "institutions" or positions of any kind, including new centres, institutes, departments, chairs, professorships or units, designed to be permanent in character. Committees are dealt with under a specific heading. |
16. Lobbying Rather than being a tool, lobbying can be viewed as a way to combine different tools in order to influence the decision-making process in favor of specific groups such as women in science and technology |
17. Media campaigns Media campaigns are specifically geared to disseminating information to the general public through such things as television, newspapers, magazines and web-based media. |
18. Meetings The word meeting can be applied to an extremely broad range of situations in which people meet. Here, the term is used specifically to refer to meetings where participants are invited to discuss specific topics and exchange opinions and experiences. Therefore, working meetings envisaging decision-making, developing actions, devising measures and assessing or evaluating programs are not included. These kinds of meetings are contemplated under other headings, such as committees, consultations, institutional arrangements, organizational arrangements, policy promotions or transfer of best practices. |
19. Mentoring Mentoring refers to a relationship in which a more experienced person (the mentor) helps a less experienced one (the mentee). Mentoring is increasingly used in human resources development and is largely applied in the promotion of women in different organizational settings (such as public administration, enterprises and service providers). |
20. Monitoring and evaluation
tools Monitoring and evaluation refer here to any action aimed at providing information on the state of a given program, policy or process. Monitoring is characterized by continuity of the assessment action for a given period, while evaluation is a discrete action, carried out once or several times, in usually pre-established development phases of the project, policy or process. |
21. Networks and networking Network refers to the establishment of more or less formal groups or associations, the membership of which is usually made up of people working in different units or institutions. Networking refers to a more or less continuous development of contacts or information exchange among people included in an informal network. Networks and networking are often grounded in daily web-based communication, mixed with occasional or periodic face-to-face interaction (such as meetings or social events). |
22. On-demand services his heading groups together all services designed to be activated on user demand. The accent here is mainly on the customized nature of the services provided, requiring service providers to adapt to the specific needs of users |
23. Organizational
arrangements Change in women's condition in science and technology is often pursued by developing new organizational arrangements, such as the adoption of new procedures and practices, the creation of new functions and tasks, the modification of organizational forms, and so forth. Unlike with institutional arrangements, organizational ones do not require the establishment of new permanent units, bodies or positions; nor do they need new regulations. Sometimes, regulations and institutional arrangements follow the adoption of new organizational solutions. Therefore, organizational arrangements – at least as they are meant here – are narrower in scope, more fluid and modifiable and based on decisions that can be taken at all levels of the organization. Often, new organizational arrangements emerge spontaneously, and are not established through any formal decision. |
24. Planning All organizations need to engage in planning to implement new functions, policies or programs. In this sense, planning cannot be considered as a specific tool for promoting women in science and technology. However, experience shows how planning (i.e. defining strategies and objectives, identifying actions and means, allocating human and financial resources, etc.), over and beyond its practical effects, is a necessary political and symbolic step in order to shift from a fragmented, short-term, occasional and often generic support of women to a more long term commitment aimed at really increasing gender equality in science and technology. |
25. Public communication
tools This heading includes all tools geared to publicizing programs, actions and events and to disseminating information to a large audience, such as brochures, newsletters, bulletins, leaflets and flyers, both on paper and online. |
26. Regulations It is quite obvious that one of the most direct ways to modify the status of women in science and technology is by changing the rules (e.g. national laws, regulations, contracts and any other kind of normative element) governing how organizations and institutions work. Regulations are often applied to establish on paper a process of change developed by using other tools (for example, new funds, planning activities or new institutional arrangements), but it is more important here to focus on regulations introduced at the beginning of the process, i.e., as a tool for activating change and finding a direct solution to a given problem. |
27. Research and data
collection This heading includes all tools geared to generating or organizing knowledge, regardless of the approaches and methodologies used, such as surveys, administrative data collection, organization of statistical data, focus groups, informal interviews, and the like. |
28. Social events This heading includes all initiatives geared to producing a significant impact on the public they are addressed to. Events can be of various kinds: conferences, galas, dinners and receptions. Social events are often organised as components of networking activities |
29. Training courses, lessons
and seminars This heading groups together different types of training initiatives (such as structured courses, training seminars or single lessons). They are all characterized by the common aim of transferring knowledge, skills, and competences and by a relatively clear distinction (also in emotional terms) made between teacher and learner – something that is less stressed in other training-oriented tools such as mentoring or coaching. |
30. Web-based discussion
spaces This heading includes all forms of "virtual" places allowing synchronous or asynchronous debate, discussion and exchange (such as chat rooms, discussion forums, newsgroups and online conferences). |
31. Websites This heading refers to all kinds of websites, webpages, platforms and portals maintained by institutions, program promoters or any other actor in order to promote gender equality in science and technology sectors. |
Sources:
- Cacace M. et al (2015) Structural Transformation to Gender Equality in Science, Guidelines, STAGES Project, Rome (https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/prages-guidelines_en.pdf)
Designing inequality actions: some tips
In order to better understand how inequality actions or an Action Plan may actually designed, some aspects can be shortly highlighted.
Establishing a motivated team. One of the first step is that of establishing a team responsible for the actions or the Action Plan. At least, one of its member should have gained experience on equality and diversity issues. The team should be visible and should be authoritative enough to be recognized within the institution. In this regards, a clear support by the leaders is a pivotal condition to initiate the program.
Using the results of the diagnosis. As mentioned, making a diagnosis of the institution from the point of view of inequality is a necessary step to be taken in order to design the action plan. The results of the diagnosis are usually the subject of a report and other smaller publications to be used for circulating them among the staff. In this regard, see also what has been highlighted in section B1 about the reasons why a diagnosis is important. The main outputs of the diagnosis should be also incorporated in the design the actions or the Action Plan.
Adopting a comprehensive approach. One of the advantage of an Action Plan in comparison to single actions is that an Action Plan allows a comprehensive approach to inequality issues. The principle is that inequality must be rooted out from any function and process of the organization. For example, it is difficult to effectively cope with gender inequality only promoting measures aimed to favor work-life balance, ignoring other pivotal aspects related to, e.g., recruitment and selection processes, career advancements and access to leadership positions, or gender stereotypes. To develop a comprehensive approach in designing the Action Plan, the same observation areas identified for the diagnosis may be used. Some examples have been provided in section B5.
Identifying objectives and actions. The planned actions are to be fully tailored to the problems identified through the diagnosis and the features of the organization. Usually, they are placed in the timesheet according to different criteria, including priority criteria, logical progressivity and feasibility criteria. Examples of kinds of action and action plans are provided in this same section C2.
Involving internal players. Inequality actions work to the extent that they are able to increasingly involve other players in the institution, including concerned leaders and middle managers, offices and services (for example, Human Resources Department or Communication Department), and individuals (researchers, professionals, nurses, etc.).
Involving external stakeholders. To foster staff mobilization, a relevant role could be also played by stakeholders external to institutions which are already involved, or are interested to be involved, with equality issues. They may include NGOs, networks and associations engaged with equality issues, scientific and medical societies, faith groups, professional associations, or local authorities. It is to be remarked that the identification of the internal players and the external stakeholders is dependent upon the scope of the actions or the Action Plan (see sections B2 and C1).
Defining the timeframe. In designing the actions, it is important to define their timeframe. In this regards, it is to consider that – even if some low-hanging fruit can often be quickly harvested as a starting point of the change process – three or four years are generally necessary to attain significant and structural results, even in the best institutional conditions. Many changes in the institution may occur even after five years or more.
Getting appropriate resources. Equality actions and even more an Action Plan require appropriate resources. They should be primarily made available by the concerned institution. However, some external sources are sometimes used (for example, local authorities, national grants, etc.). Volunteering and the cooperation with external associations and networks may provide further resources. Making a detailed budget and securing an amount of funds sufficient to implement most of the planned actions is evidently a requirement to start.
Why leaders should be involved
Involving leaders is a pivotal to activate an Action Plan addressing equality issues. There are different reasons for that.
- Changing the organizational culture. Promoting equality could imply challenging profoundly rooted cultural resistances and promoting an overall change of the organization's culture. This can be successfully achieved only with the strong commitment of senior management.
- Producing a symbolic impact. A proactive involvement of leaders has a symbolic effect, which greatly facilitates the mobilization of leaders at all levels.
- Taking decisions. Only strong support by leaders makes it possible to develop successful initiatives aimed at promoting equality in the organization, to mobilize appropriate resources and to prevent or settle possible conflicts.
- Promoting internal dialogue. Leaders' involvement has an essential role in favoring an internal dialogue on inequality, both at the formal and the informal level.
- Favoring learning processes. It is up to leaders to manage the outputs of equality-related measures and support an institutional learning process.
- Connecting equality with the mission of the organization. Leaders' involvement is necessary from the beginning in order to systematically connect equality issues with the organization's mission and key strategies.
- Playing as equality champions. Leaders may play the role of equality champions to foster it throughout the organization.
Sources:
- PRAGES Project (2013) Guidelines for Gender Equality Programmes in Science, Rome (https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/prages-guidelines_en.pdf)
- PE2020 Project (2017) Toolkit on Public Engagement with Science (https://toolkit.pe2020.eu/)
Some strategies for involving leaders
Some guidelines produced under the project "Structural Transformations to Achieve Gender Equality in Science" (STAGES) concern possible strategies for involving leaderships in gender equality programs.
In particular, five main strategies have been identified.
A. CONNECTING GENDER EQUALITY
TO INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIES. Frame gender equality actions to address emergent priorities and widely recognized challenges for the organization. |
Integrated action plans are a
unique opportunity to permanently hook gender issues to the very mission of research institutions. To
this end, leaders should be made aware of the relevance of gender equality for the multiple demands
research institutions are asked to meet (for example, competing for funds, attracting new talents,
dialoguing with society), and even more so in the present post-academic environment. An effective and
convincing tool – used and disseminated by the Action Plans within STAGES – is the European Commission's
Horizon 2020 Program, which includes gender considerations as a quality criterion for assessing research
projects. This can be done by, e.g.:
|
B. SUPPORTING INTERNAL
INITIATIVES Use the activities and resources of the Action Plan to support internal initiatives, thus reinforcing its impact |
Demonstrating the practical
usefulness of the Action Plan is another way to facilitate the involvement of leaders. In fact, action
plans can provide institutions with additional resources, opportunities and services for carrying out
internal programs or solving the problems they are engaged in. This means action plans that are flexible
enough to be partially remolded according to the leaderships' emerging needs and expectations. STAGES
offers many examples of trade-off between leaders and teams, where the action plans were instrumental in
improving communication between internal units, for example, or providing expert advice, enhancing human
resources management, gaining visibility and sustainability perspectives in return. This may be done by,
e.g.
|
C. MAPPING THE
LEADERSHIP Identify the leaders to involve more directly in the Action Plan |
As leaderships are not
homogeneous, either as groups (belonging to different sectors, levels and specializations), or
individuals (in terms of leadership styles, for example, or values and professional experience),
orientations and sensitiveness towards gender issues vary greatly. Hence the importance of selecting the
leaders to be primarily involved in the Action Plan by interpreting their attitudes, expectations and
interests. This reduces the amount of time wasted over indifferent or even hostile leaders, and allows
for the development of specific involvement strategies for those who are open and supportive, at least
potentially. Under STAGES, new institutional spaces have been often created to involve leaders, through
advisory boards or other kinds of participative structures. This can be done by, e.g.:
|
D. USING ACTIVE AND
PARTICIPATORY METHODS TO INVOLVE LEADERS Facilitating leaders' active involvement in the Action Plan to support motivation |
Beyond participating as members of
the advisory board, leaders may be more directly involved in the implementation of the initiatives with
various roles. In fact, as the experience of STAGES suggests, many show or develop an interest and even
an emotional orientation towards gender issues, leading them to engage personally with the Action Plan.
This attitude can be actively fostered through appropriate participatory methods. Creating occasions for
them to interact directly with researchers and staff members proved particularly effective, bridging the
top-down and bottom-up dimensions of the Action Plan. This can be done by, e.g.:
|
E. GAINING INTERNAL LEGITIMACY
THROUGH EXTERNAL SUPPORT Involve motivated external institutions and experts to provide advice and support to the Action Plan and to act as testimonials for the wider relevance of the equality issue |
Involving external institutions
and experts may be helpful in increasing the internal visibility and legitimacy of the Action Plan, in
turn facilitating leadership engagement. Different paths may be followed. In many cases, the STAGES
teams performed an outward action, i.e. an action aimed at building an external network of relations at
local, national or international level, with a positive impact within the organization. In other cases,
an inward action was performed, i.e. an action aimed at attracting external experts and involving them
in the Action Plan through events, for example, or conferences and training activities within the
organization. This can be done by, e.g.:
|
Sources:
- Cacace, M. et al (2015) Structural Transformation to Gender Equality in Science, Guidelines, STAGES Project, Rome (https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/prages-guidelines_en.pdf)
Factors involved with sustainability
Different factors are involved with the long-term sustainability of any project.
The US Department of Labor identified a set of key elements of sustainability.
- Vision: Develop a sustainability vision statement that clearly defines what it is that you want to sustain. A vision is a clear picture of what the organization would ideally like the future of the project to be.
- Results: Identify any new measurable outcomes and establish or update processes to track performance post grant period, if applicable. The data collected during and after the life of the grant should be used to improve the project and services over time, as well as to communicate the project's successes.
- Strategic Financing & Stewardship: Identify financial strategies that integrate project and community needs and decisions. Project leaders must be good caretakers of funds and know how to balance current decisions with future effects.
- Adaptability: Recognize that change is inevitable and can be positive. Involve the community in planning and implementation.
- Collaboration: Develop partnerships that include and extend beyond financial contributions. Create a spirit of collaboration and responsibility among current and future stakeholders.
- Champions: Identify and develop champions who can assist your organization in gaining the recognition and resources needed to achieve short- and long-term goals.
- Internal Systems: Identify and hire strong leadership, staff, and volunteers. Develop communication systems, processes, and a risk management plan.
- External Systems: Do a scan of your external and internal environment at different times during the life of your project. Identify untapped funding sources and other resources, as well as determine how the needs in your community have changed over time and how you anticipate they will change in the future.
- Sustainability Plan: Develop a written document that includes each of the elements of sustainability and establishes an action plan. Prioritize actions and activities.
According to the team who developed the STAGES Project, aimed at promoting and implementing gender equality action plans in different European University, five key elements of sustainability may be identified for planning the sustainability process.
- Vision. Primarily, a vision underlying the project is to be developed, identifying what actions, services, functions or sometimes benefits are to be sustained and why.
- Actors. There is the need to establish the team in charge of the sustainability planning process, to develop a network of partner entities and groups interested to provide the program with long-term collaboration, and to secure a political support, gaining the full involvement of leaders of the organization and the key partners.
- Quality assessment. Moreover, a quality assessment of the project or single actions of it is to be done so as to single out their strengths and weaknesses.
- Sustainability needs. Obviously, it is of pivotal importance to assess the needs in terms of human, organizational, and technical resources and to identify the potential financial sources.
- Communication. Finally, a continuous communication activity is also needed to appropriately document and communicate the project, its success and potential.
Sources:
- US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (2009) Moving Forward: A Sustainability Planning Guide (https://www.doleta.gov/business/pdf/sustainguide.pdf)
- ASDO (2013) Feasibility Study on the sustainability of the STAGES Action Plans, STAGES Project
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