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Institutions commit to better gender balance “in all decision-making levels”
Members of the Cesaer network of science and technology universities have committed to do more to improve equality, diversity and inclusion at their institutions.
A declaration adopted at the network’s general assembly on 18 October puts the onus on member institutions to set targets and roll out their own equality plans by 2023.
Cesaer’s 50 or so members across Europe, from Aalborg University in Denmark to Warsaw University of Technology in Poland, vowed to ensure that women make up at least 30 per cent of members of their decision-making panels and advisory boards.
The motion leaves it up to institutions to set other specific targets to boost equality, but says they must “design, implement, monitor and evaluate dedicated policies” including guidelines against discrimination.
“It all starts with the leadership. Both as a role model and in creating equal conditions that promote and strengthen talents,” the network’s vice-president for leadership and sustainability Sigbritt Karlsson said.
Institutions will be responsible for monitoring and reporting on their own success in meeting the self-defined targets, the declaration says.
In addition, the declaration calls on the European Commission to establish a “more ambitious agenda” for gender equality and for funders to develop specific instruments to help institutions carry out their diversity plans.