Missed it? Recording of our Open Forum on Gender Quotas now online!
On 20 March, Cristina Solera shared insights on and experiences from working with positive action incentives for gender equality in European research organisations. With 70+ registrants from several continents, we spent an hour and a half diving deeper into the issue. All based around the policy brief the MINDtheGEPs project issued to the European Commission on the topic. Now, the recording is available to those who missed it.
The speaker, Cristina Solera, is not just the coordinator of MINDtheGEPs, she is also Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society at the University of Turin and an affiliate at Collegio Carlo Alberto. She has experience working with issues regarding women's labour-market participation, work-family reconciliation, new models of motherhood and fatherhood, comparative social policies, gender, and class inequalities. According to her, taking steps to address gender imbalances is essential to ensure women's career progress and promote diverse and inclusive research environments. Positive action (sometimes referred to as positive discrimination or affirmative action) is widely acknowledged as a crucial tool for achieving this goal. However, resistance persists, and opinions diverge about which are the most effective and valid strategies.
Watch the recording on YouTube
The MINDtheGEPs policy brief on the topic provides an overview of the multifaceted debate around positive action, the arguments for, arguments against, and pathways for implementation – drawing insight from the Gender Equality Plan development process of and interviews performed by MINDtheGEPs and presenting two case studies from Italian universities.
Cipriani, Nastassja., Solera, Cristina., & Holm Bodin, Anna. (2023). Gender quotas & positive action: An attack on meritocracy?. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10024373