Gender equality regimes and evaluation regimes in Europe and their implications for policy design and evaluation
Autor/in:
Reidl, Sybille; Beranek, Sarah; Holzinger, Florian; Streicher, Jürgen
Quelle: Evaluation and program planning, 83 (2020)
Inhalt: Purpose
This article starts from the assumption that it is important for the evaluation of gender equality interventions in RTDI (Research, Technology Development and Innovation) to consider its context regarding gender equality regime and evaluation culture because this context does influence effects and long term impacts of such activities. It aims to provide key characteristics for the differentiation of gender equality regimes and evaluation regimes to be considered when designing policy interventions or evaluating specific gender equality interventions in RTDI.
Design/methodology/approach
After a literature review of relevant typologies for welfare state and gender equality regimes, it was analysed to which extent the seven EFFORTI countries correspond to certain typologies based on the data basis of the context research performed in the EFFORTI project. For this context research, international/national and qualitative/quantitative data regarding the relevant framework conditions were firstly collected for each of the EFFORTI countries and secondly compared in a cross-country analysis.
Findings
The research showed that when it comes to gender equality policies, most EFFORTI countries can either be assigned to the Social-Democratic category or Conservative Equal Employment Regime category in the typology of von Wahl (2005), with the latter type tending to provide less favourable conditions for women in the general labour market as well as women in RTDI (e.g. overtime culture). In how far these different types of context can have an impact on the evaluation of interventions can be exemplarily illustrated using case studies carried out as part of EFFORTI. Connecting the typologies for gender equality policy with evaluation regimes has not proved fruitful, as the two discourses have only begun to converge in recent years. The evaluation regimes and cultures of the respective countries have therefore been described independently. However, it was shown that countries with more expertise in certain areas (e.g. gender, evaluations) developed more routinized and institutionalised procedures in the respective field.
Originality/value
Considering the different framework conditions is relevant when it comes to evaluation as different national contexts might require different policy and designs of activities, but might also shape the interventions’ effects. This article therefore aims to provide support in this regard for future evaluations of gender policies.
Context matters: Problematizing the policy‐practice interface in the enactment of gender equality action plans in universities
Autor/in:
Ní Laoire, Caitríona; Linehan, Carol; Archibong, Uduak; Picardi, Ilenia; Udén, Maria
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2020)
Inhalt: This study argues for recognition of the constitutive role of context in shaping the dynamics of the policy‐practice interface in the field of gender equality in universities. Using a comparative and reflective case‐study approach, we draw on our experiences, as action‐researchers, of developing and implementing Gender Equality Action Plans (GEAPs) in four universities in four different European countries and we explore the role of national and local context in the mediation and translation of the GEAP model. Drawing on the concepts of gendered organizations, dialogic organizational change, and policy mobilities, we argue for the need to be critical of approaches to gender equality in higher education (HE) that presume policy measures and good practice models transfer unproblematically to different HE organizations in different international contexts; instead, we draw attention to the contingent ways in which uneven gender relations articulate and manifest in different contexts, shaping possibilities for, and obstacles to, gender equality intervention. Thus, we argue that context plays a crucial constitutive role in the interpretation, enactment, and impact of gender equality policy in HE.
Schlagwörter:action research; case study; gender equality plan; gendered organization; Gleichstellungsmaßnahmen; Gleichstellungsplan; good practice; Hochschule; internationaler Vergleich; Organisational Change; Organisationswandel; translation
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Hochschulen, Gleichstellungspolitik
Maneuvering within postfeminism: A study of gender equality practitioners in Danish academia
Autor/in:
Utoft, Ea Høg
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2020)
Inhalt: In Denmark, gender equality in academia has seen limited progress during the past 30 years. To improve our understanding of this persistent problem, this article examines gender equality practitioners in relation to the wider discursive context of Danish society. Theorizing Denmark as a “postfeminist gender regime,” I analyze how practitioners negotiate a space for action in a context which generally opposes gender equality initiatives. I introduce the notion of “maneuvering” as a way to understand this negotiation between hegemonic, postfeminist discourses, on the one hand, and marginal and potentially subversive discourses on the other. Practitioners may maneuver in how they understand inequality and potential solutions, and in the meetings between them, their work and the postfeminist gender regime. Successful maneuvering enables the use of more radical change strategies than postfeminism otherwise allows. Practitioners' ability to maneuver rests on their critical reflexivity, which in turn is conditioned by their knowledge of gender and power dynamics. The study thus points to the centrality of selecting highly qualified individuals as gender equality practitioners.
A Women-Only Leadership Development Program : Facilitating Access to Authority for Women in Swedish Higher Education?
Autor/in:
Peterson, Helen
Quelle: Soc. Sci. (Social Sciences), 8 (2019) 5, 137 S
Inhalt: This article explores a national women-only leadership development program in Swedish higher education, the so-called IDAS program (an acronym for Identity, Development, Advancement, Support). IDAS encouraged and supported women academics to pursue leadership/administrative careers in higher education and was a unique intervention, aiming to increase the number of women Rectors. By drawing on interviews with some of the women who participated in the IDAS program and subsequently became Rectors, the article provides a valuable case study over best practices to increase women senior leaders in higher education. Notwithstanding the success of the leadership program, the article also deals with resistance and criticism linked to equal opportunity initiatives such as this. The article analyzes the criticism voiced by the women interviewed and suggests that it can be understood in relation to different conceptions of gender and gender (in)equality.
Myriad potential for mentoring : Understanding the process of transformational change through a gender equality intervention
Autor/in:
Leenders, Joke; Bleijenbergh, Inge L.; van den Brink, Marieke C.L.
Quelle: Gender Work Organ (Gender, Work & Organization), 4 (2019) 2, 139 S
Inhalt: This article contributes to understanding transformational change towards gender equality by examining the transformational change potential of a mentoring programme for women, a type of gender equality intervention both criticized and praised for its ability to bring about change. Drawing upon an empirical case study of a mentoring programme for women academics in a Dutch university, we explore three dimensions of transformational change: organizational members (i) discussing and reflecting upon gendered organizational norms and work practices; (ii) creating new narratives; and (iii) experimenting with new work practices. Our findings indicate five specific conditions that enable transformational change: cross‐mentoring, questioning what is taken for granted, repeating participation and individual stories, facilitating peer support networks and addressing and equipping all participants as change agents. We suggest that these conditions should be taken into account when (re)designing effective organizational gender equality interventions.
Quelle: Evaluation and program planning, 77 (2019)
Inhalt: This article analyses the facilitating and hindering factors that have affected the implementation of gender equality interventions in research and innovation in Europe. It applies the evaluation framework developed in the EFFORTI project that recognizes the complexity of evaluating gender equality interventions in R&I, the importance of factoring in context to any sound evaluation as well as the need to distinguish between the design and implementation of interventions in evaluations. It is based on the analysis of 19 empirical case studies carried out throughout Europe and focuses on those structural and procedural factors that have either facilitated or hindered the implementation process of these interventions. Findings include how the governance framework; top-management commitment; bottom-up participation; framing synergies with other initiatives, strategies for tackling resistance; resources; sustainability of actions; gender competence, experience and knowledge and transparency, targets, standards and monitoring; and accessible data and information all contributed to the successful implementation of the interventions.
Schlagwörter:Evaluation; Facilitators; Gleichstellungsmaßnahmen; Gleichstellungspolitik; Implementation; Obstacles; Procedural factors; Structural factors; Strukturwandel; theory of change; Widerstand
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Gleichstellungspolitik
‘If you put pressure on yourself to produce then that's your responsibility’ : Mothers’ experiences of maternity leave and flexible work in the neoliberal university
Quelle: Gender Work Organ (Gender, Work & Organization), 26 (2019) 6, S 772–788
Inhalt: Women remain underrepresented in senior positions within universities and report barriers to career progression. Drawing on the concepts of Foucault and Bourdieu, with an emphasis on technologies of the self, this article aims to understand mothers’ academic career experiences. Interviews were conducted with 35 non‐STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) academics in Scotland and Australia, to reveal the gender dimensions of parents’ academic careers, in neoliberal university contexts. The data suggest that there are tensions between organizational policies, such as maternity leave and flexible work, and the contemporary demands of academic labour. New managerial discourses which individualize and make use of moral systems are particularly effectual in driving women to take up marketized research activity and compromise leave entitlements.
Quelle: CJPE (Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation), 33 (2019)
Inhalt: Gender equality has made its way to the forefront of discussions across various sectors in the Canadian context. Yet the intentional inclusion of gender and other intersectional identity dimensions is just beginning to permeate the realities of performance measurement and evaluation practitioners, particularly those using program theory. There is a vast body of knowledge regarding the measurement of women’s empowerment, gradually declining availability of resources targeting the inclusion of gender in theory, and even less guidance on integrating gender in theory in the context of gendered programming. Similarly, coordinated efforts from multiple sectors have resulted in an abundance of theory regarding girls and women’s representation, recruitment, retention, and promotion within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) but less guidance on the measurement and evaluation in these areas. This article shares recent efforts to bridge the divide using theory knitting to develop a performance measurement framework addressing the decreasing representation of girls and women across the STEM “leaky pipeline” using the COM-B theory of change model.
Schlagwörter:gender equality; Geschlechterverhältnis; Gleichstellungsmaßnahmen; Gleichstellungspolitik; Ingenieurwissenschaft; MINT; Programmevaluation; Programmtheorie; STEM; theory of change
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Gleichstellungspolitik, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
Quelle: Soc. Sci. (Social Sciences), 8 (2019) 6, 168 S
Inhalt: Women are under-represented in leadership roles in United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Existing scholarship focuses on institutional barriers, which include cognitive bias and entrenched homosocial cultures, rather than external factors such as the use of executive search firms (ESFs) in recruitment and selection. Recent research indicates that the use of ESFs is increasing for senior HEI appointments. This analysis offers insights on these firms’ involvement from a gender equality perspective, based on the results from a study that used a ‘virtuous circle’ approach to research and knowledge exchange. The requirement for HEIs to pay ‘due regard’ to equality considerations under the Public Sector Equality Duty provides a framework for analysis. This paper provides new insights on the dynamics within recruitment processes when ESFs are involved and on how a legislative approach can leverage better equality outcomes
Schlagwörter:Führungsposition; Gleichstellungspolitik; Gleichstellungsrecht; Großbritannien; Hochschule; Professorin; Professur; recruitment; Rekrutierung; UK
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Gleichstellungspolitik, Hochschulen
Quelle: GENDER (GENDER – Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft), 11 (2019) 3-2019, S 100–115
Inhalt: Im Zuge der Reformen des Hochschulwesens gewinnt die Förderung von wissenschaftsbasierten Gründungen an Bedeutung. Erste Erhebungen zur Schweiz zeigen jedoch, dass Akademikerinnen deutlich seltener ausgründen als Akademiker. Das als „Leaky Pipeline“ bezeichnete Phänomen ist auch im Bereich von Gründungsaktivitäten an Schweizer Fachhochschulen deutlich erkennbar. Anschließend an Perspektiven der Gender- und Hochschulforschung beleuchtet der Beitrag zentrale Voraussetzungen für Gründungsaktivitäten von Frauen an Schweizer Fachhochschulen. Empirische Grundlage bilden eine schriftliche Umfrage aus den Jahren 2017/18 an öffentlich-rechtlichen Fachhochschulen der Schweiz sowie Interviews mit Gleichstellungsbeauftragten und Gründungszentren dieser Hochschulen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen nicht nur, dass Wissenschaftlerinnen kaum als Zielgruppen der Gründungsförderung an Fachhochschulen erkannt werden, sondern dass auch kaum spezifische Unterstützungsmaßnahmen für Frauen existieren. Dabei ist das Bewusstsein für den Gender Gap im Bereich Gründen bis jetzt gering – dies gilt gleichermaßen für Gründungsverantwortliche wie für Gleichstellungs- und Diversitätsbeauftragte der Hochschulen.