Professor slams council’s ‘naive’ gender equality guidelines

The Research Council of Norway’s gender equality efforts are “naive” and place the onus on women, according to Agnete Vabø, an associate professor at Oslo Metropolitan University.

The council, Norway’s biggest public research funder, has drawn up 12 recommendations and measures to ensure that its funding benefits male and female researchers equally. In a guidance report, it said that the measures had “been documented to have positive effects for better gender balance at Norwegian research institutions and could be implemented by all institutions”.

The recommendations include advice on networking and forming connections with people who can help women achieve more senior posts, as well as on arranging flexible working time for staff with children.