Towards gender equality in the ERA

With Horizon Europe, the Commission reaffirms its commitment to gender equality in research and innovation. The legal base sets gender equality as a crosscutting priority and establishes strengthened provisions. The goal is to improve the European research and innovation system, create gender-equal working environments where all talents can thrive, and better integrate the gender dimension into the content of R&I projects to improve research quality as well as the relevance to society of the knowledge, technologies and innovations produced.

Under Horizon Europe having a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) is an eligibility criterion for certain categories of legal entities (i.e. public bodies, research organisations and higher education establishments) from EU Member States and Associated Countries

What is GEP?

A GEP is set of actions that aim to promote gender equality through institutional and cultural change in research and innovations (R&I) organisations.

In the understanding of the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, a GEP should cover the following:

Four minimum mandatory process-related requirements:

• publication: a formal document published on the institution’s website and signed by the top management; 
• dedicated resources: commitment of resources and expertise in gender equality to implement the plan; 
• data collection and monitoring: sex/gender disaggregated data on personnel (and students, for the establishments concerned) and annual reporting based on indicators; 
• training: awareness raising/training on gender equality and unconscious gender biases for staff and decision-makers. 

Five recommended content-wise requirements:

• work-life balance and organisational culture;
• gender balance in leadership and decision-making;
• gender equality in recruitment and career progression;
• integration of the gender dimension into research and teaching content;
• measures against gender-based violence, including sexual harassment.

Additional support:  

Gender equality plans: Frequently Asked Questions

Horizon Europe guidance on gender equality plans

What Role Gender NCPs Should Play

Those few countries that have nominated gender NCPs have used different formulas. A Gender NCP can be either an NCP who has acquired the necessary training and skills on gender issues to provide researchers with quality advice, a gender expert who belongs to gender equality structures in national/regional R&I institutions, or an external gender expert with the necessary experience in the Framework Programme. While there could be some conflict of interest in the case of external gender experts, this could be solved through their rotations as NCPs.

Gender NCPs would take the lead through a ‘train the trainer’ approach in a shared commitment to raise awareness of the objectives to ensure gender balance in HE and of strengthening the link between science and civil society’. 

Access to the Position Paper  elaborated by GENDERACTIONplus project as a guide for supporting gender expertise among NCPs to get better results on inclusive gender analysis in R&I in Horizon Europe.

Read more about NCPs role:

Interview with one of our NCP experts on gender issues.

The work of the German NCP Women into EU Research

GENDERACTIONplus

• GENDERACTIONplus is a Coordination and Support Action whose aim is to strengthen policy coordination among Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC) regarding gender equality policies in Research and Innovation (R&I) in the European Research Area (ERA).  The project provides policy advice to the R&I system on developing common messages as well as actions to be taken by different stakeholders.

• Do you want to follow the development of the project? https://genderaction.eu/