The effectiveness of gender equality policy programmes and measures as well as their quality assurance are increasingly in the focus of a broad scholarly public. Evaluations are an instrument to respond to questions about the effectiveness and quality of gender equality policies.
CEWS evaluations primarily aim at improving and further developing gender equality policies. In the context of its evaluations, CEWS utilizes expertise on gender relations and gender equality policies in science and research, knowledge of evaluation research, and social science methodological skills. Theoretical concepts such as the “logic chart model” or the “theory of change” guide the evaluations. CEWS evaluators consider themselves “critical friends” to the owners of gender equality policy programs and measures.
CEWS conducts evaluations as projects and as contracted research.
Program Evaluation
Program evaluations examine gender equality policy programs at the federal or state level. In 2015-2017, CEWS evaluated the 2nd phase of the “Evaluation of the Programme for Women Professors”. For this purpose, CEWS conducted, among other things, a quantitative impact analysis, which showed that the proportion of women professors increased more in universities that participated in the program than in other universities.
Furthermore, CEWS was involved in the evaluation of FEMtech (Austrian program for promoting women in research and technology) and evaluated the program “Childcare Services in Higher Education in Baden-Württemberg”.
Evaluation of gender equality plans and policies at universities and research institutions
Within the framework of the EU projects INTEGER and GEECCO, CEWS evaluated the design and implementation of gender equality plans, which aim to initiate structural changes towards more gender equality at universities and research institutions. In the national context, CEWS evaluates gender equality policies at individual universities (EvalKIT | EvalTUB | EvalRUB). The focus is on the policy goals and strategies and their implementation, anchoring, and process design. CEWS conducts evaluations in a participatory manner and in close consultation with its clients.
Evaluation of individual gender equality measures
Furthermore, CEWS evaluates the implementation and effectiveness of specific gender equality measures, such as qualification programs for women in academia (evaluation of the Dorothea Schlözer program) or mentoring programs. For the Technical Faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg CEWS evaluated different program lines of the ARIADNE mentoring program and other selected measures for the promotion of young women in science and research.