Europe eligibility criteria to access funding has acted as an important driver towards gender equality, by requesting that research institutions publish their equality plan on their websites. They are also required to provide dedicated resources for the design, implementation and monitoring of the plan, to collect sex or gender- disaggregated data and to organise training and capacity-building aimed, in particular, at developing gender competence and tackling unconscious gender bias. The specific areas addressed are 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; and measures against gender-based violence, including sexual harassment. Nevertheless, despite these efforts and advances, there is still much work to be done. It is important for institutions to co-ordinate the efforts made in the field of gender equality, as sometimes there is a lack of consistency in the different approaches. Furthermore, it is vital to focus on the structural issues and systemic biases that continue to impact women throughout their academic career. Research institutions must adopt specific strategies and measures to attract and retain women researchers, not only to address a gender equality issue, but to attract talent. Sadly, when it comes to gender equality and other worldwide social challenges there is no magic formula, nor fail-safe measures. Nevertheless, there are some practices that have been adopted by the Equal4Europe consortium that can be presented as recommendations or best practices.
of female researchers; to promote the presence of women in decision-making bodies and processes; to integrate the gender perspective in research and teaching; and to mainstream gender equality. Breaking down gender-bias barriers One important conclusion arrived at by the project is that there are significant barriers for women when pursuing an academic career that are also prevalent in social sciences and business disciplines. These include the existence of unconscious or implicit gender bias; the challenge of balancing family responsibilities with an academic career; the requirements of international travel and long working hours; the differences in academic activity between women and men; and the existence of gender‑science stereotypes. In recent years, many research institutions have made significant advances in gender equality, adopting gender equality plans and implementing specific policies and actions to address this subject. There has been important progress in raising gender awareness and prevention against sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behaviour. The Horizon
Recruitment and retention issues When aiming to attract female talent it is important to review existing recruitment policies to introduce a gender perspective. One interesting finding of the Equal4Europe project is that there is a significant gender imbalance in the applications received by business schools, with a high prevalence of male candidates. Although the selection process does not necessarily reflect the existence of gender bias, the difference in the number of applications between women
38 | Ambition | MARCH/APRIL 2024
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