A new generation of GEPs: how academic organisations address equality, intersectionality, and diversity

Abstract

Since 2015, the EU has been recommending and actively supporting the implementation of GE Plans (GEPs) in academic and research organisations. GEPs aim to address persistent gender inequalities in research and academic careers by moving along three axes envisaged by the European Research Area: i) to remove legal and other barriers to the recruitment, retention, and career progression of female researchers, ii) to address gender imbalances in decision-making processes, and iii) to strengthen the gender dimension in research (Council of the European Union, 2015). Despite the commitment of the EC to mainstream GE in research and innovation, the potential of GEPs to generate institutional and cultural change in universities is a contested matter. The use of efficiency arguments (e.g., economic outcomes of gender equality) to justify policy interventions and the predominance of conservative frameworks on GE to inform the measures are some of the critiques. Thus, current research and innovation framework programmes also refer to a gender+ strategy (e.g., intersectional approaches), meaning that gender remains the primary contemplated type of inequality. Still, its interaction with other sources of inequality and grounds of discrimination must be considered in the design and implementation of measures. RESET GEPs have aligned with this requirement and, from inception, have used intersectionality as an analytical tool for studying, understanding, and responding to the ways in which sex and gender intersect with other personal characteristics. This chapter will describe RESET partners' experiences designing, implementing, and mainstreaming intersectional GEPs, reflecting upon the barriers and challenges of gender mainstreaming in contemporary higher education systems.