Gender Equality: A Core Value and A Means Towards Departmental Excellence
Gender Equality: A Core Value and A Means Towards Departmental Excellence
Gender Equality: A Core Value and A Means Towards Departmental Excellence
Main goals
Equal representation of both genders is the ideal, and we set 40% representation as the minimum benchmark.
If the share of either men or women drops below 30%, it is considered critical as ample evidence suggests that
this level ensures critical mass – and without critical mass, representatives of the underrepresented gender
often become the “token” one, which is problematic for everyone. The benchmarks mentioned apply
horizontally (across sections) and vertically (across staff categories) within the department. Our goals are
ambitious, and they can only be met through a gradual process and at a different pace across the organization.
However, ambitious goals are a prerequisite for change and defined on the basis of the turn-around during the
past years, we are able to meet our goals by employing an equal number of men and women in the years to
come. We set the following concrete goals which are to be reviewed and possibly revised every second year
(Spring ‘19 and ’21):
- We have equally – and highly – satisfied men and women as measured by the Working Environment
Survey from 2017 and onwards.
- We have representation of both genders in all official departmental committees (including assessment
and hiring committees) and working groups from 2017 and onwards. Exemptions can be given by the
HoD, but only in extraordinary situations, and specific reasons must be stated and advertised
publically.
- The total share of short-listed female candidates for academic positions is at least 30% in 2019.
- The share of female academic staff is at least 40% in 2021 (by September 2016 the share was 25%).
- The share of female academic staff is at least 30% in all sections and in all staff categories by 2023.
Talent development: In order for the department to retain and promote our own talents – of both genders –
we need to work strategically with talent development. Talent takes many forms, and human potential thus
has to be nurtured in different ways in order to bring a person’s full potential into play. We take the following
actions in this regard:
- From 2017 and onwards, we will engage in individual career planning and mentoring and we will
consider the distribution of administrative and academic tasks (this will be coupled with a new format
of the MUS and a formalized interaction between section heads and junior faculty).
- In the spring of 2017, we will update the existing career advancement criteria in order to illuminate
how different profiles of excellence are of equal value to the department.
- In the fall of 2017, we will develop a format for evaluation of PhD supervision.
Transparency: Ensuring gender equality entails open competition, but true competition is only feasible if
decisions and decision-making processes are transparent and guided by known policies. The alternative is
informal processes, unconscious bias, and decision making which reproduces established culture and norms.
We will take the following actions to ensure transparency:
- In the spring of 2017, we will update the existing career advancement criteria in order to illuminate
how different profiles of excellence are of value to the department – and we will adhere to these
criteria when hiring and promoting.
- In the spring of 2017, we will formulate a recruitment policy making the process known to everybody.
- From 2017 and onwards, we strive to make decisions publicly known either orally via meetings in e.g.
sections or written, e.g. via the newsletter or sdunet.dk.
Ensuring implementation: In order to implement these actions, it is important to develop mechanisms that help
us monitor, adjust and encourage the preferred behaviour. We do so by:
- Acknowledging that realization of the goals requires a common effort and active participation from all
employees and sections, but especially from informal leaders, e.g. PhD supervisors, professors and
project owners. Heads of Sections will address the subject in relation to MUS with these informal
leaders.
- Establishing an ombudsman (at the department or the faculty level) to whom potential inequality or
any other working environment issue could be reported. The HoD must meet regularly with the
ombudsman to discuss current issues.
- Making collective (i.e. sections, research collectives, centres and project teams) promotion of gender
equality count on par with other strategic objectives when distributing departmental means (e.g. seed
money, support for new strategic initiatives, co-funding of projects and positions).