Structural change towards gender equality: learning from bottom-up and top-down experiences of GEP implementation in universities

Universities are large, complex and highly hierarchical organisations with deeply engrained gendered values, norms and practices. This chapter reflects on the experiences of two universities in initiating structural change towards gender equality as supported by the TARGET project. A common aspect t...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Caprile, Maria, Bettachy, Mina, Duhaček, Daša, Mirazić, Milica, Palmén, Rachel, Kussy, Angelina
Format: book part
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/71422
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/71422
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/9781802621198
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:University
Gender equality plan
Top-down
Bottom-up
Community of practice
Reflexivity
Description
Summary:Universities are large, complex and highly hierarchical organisations with deeply engrained gendered values, norms and practices. This chapter reflects on the experiences of two universities in initiating structural change towards gender equality as supported by the TARGET project. A common aspect thereby is the lack of a national policy in higher education and research providing specific support for implementing gender equality policies. The process of audit, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the first gender equality plan (GEP) in each of these universities was conceived as a first step in a long journey, providing a framework for engaging different institutional actors and fostering reflexive, evidence-based policy making. The analysis deals with reflexivity and resistance and seeks to draw lessons from bottom-up and top-down experiences of GEP implementation. It is the result of shared reflection between the GEP ‘implementers’ in the two universities and the team who provided support and acted as ‘critical friends’.