Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona's Observatory for Equality

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Objectives of the Initiative

The main objectives were proposed and stated through specific actions in the first action plan issued by the Observatory for Equality.

1. To support an institutional change through increasing awareness of sexism at university.
2. To ensure equal working conditions and career advancement in order to eliminate inequality between men and women within teaching and research staff.
3. To adopt a gender perspective in working conditions, providing room for “private time” and taking into consideration the physical and psychosocial impact that work and its management has on people’s lives.
4. Promotion of gender perspectives in teaching and research contents.

Which barriers in the career stages of females does the initiative address?

The existence of sexism at Catalonian universities, and, therefore, the under-representation of women among R&D staff, although the numbers of female students has risen extensively.

They believe that the shortage of women professors and researchers implies a lack of role models for potential future women scientists and is a disadvantage for female students

Demonstrable success of the initiative

Most results are expected in the mid term (the initiative has not been in place for more than 4 years). However, the measures have already had a significant impact in some areas:

• Gender-balanced composition of all decision-making bodies (including Rectory and Vice-Rectory) and recently, the appointment of a woman as the new Rector.
• Gender-aware climate within the institution, organizing activities and events such as the ‘International Congress on gender bias and inequalities in the assessment of academic quality’, which had a highly international focus.

Motives for launching initiative

Apart from the existence of gender mainstream research groups and the growing gender awareness in society, Mª Jesus Izquierdo’s report on sexism at Catalan universities led the former Rector, Lluis Ferrer, to commission her with a wider report in 2002 on the specific situation at UAB as regards sexism. This report was also addressed to recommend possible actions to eradicate sexism at the university

Equal opportunity measures in the organisation before the initiative

In 1979, UAB held a meeting against the patriarchate, which resulted in academic activities that would lay the foundations for the creation of Women’s Studies seminars and research groups.
No previous institutional measures had been in place to promote equal opportunities at the UAB.

Target group(s) of the initiative

Research, teaching and services staff at the university.
Students are an indirect target of the initiative, since they will be able to enjoy a more equality-based environment in which to pursue their studies.

Implementation of the initiative

In 2003, a diagnosis of the situation of sexism and women at the UAB was made, commissioned by the Rector and the governing council. The report was published in 2004 (El sexisme a la UAB. Propostes d'actuació i dades per a un diagnòstic).

The report included an action plan proposal (based on good practices mostly taken from European and USA universities).
Among these proposals was the creation of an Observatory for Equality, as an institution in charge of coordinating and developing future studies and action plans regarding gender equality.
In February 2005 the Observatory was created and the initial steps were taken to prepare the first UAB equality action plan proposal.
An observatory Advisory Council was also set up, in order to advise and guide the Observatory.

The constitution of both the Observatory and the Advisory Council was approved by the governing council, which implied a huge commitment to the initiative as well as a guarantee of its sustainability through future changes to the governing council.
It was internally linked to the Institutional Relations Vice-Rector, who later became the Commissioner for equality policies (in charge of proposing equality policies to the Rector), a new-created commissioner.

The “First action plan for equality between men and women” was approved by the governing council for a two year period, 2006-2007.
In 2008 the scope and functions of the observatory were extended to the areas of disability and social and economic inequalities.

All resources were and are currently provided by the UAB.

Many gender-aware researchers and professors were glad to finally see such official recognition of gender inequalities within the institution.

For some stakeholders, however, the initiative was not considered necessary, given their belief that the university is a gender-neutral institution, in which equal opportunities are guaranteed by means of a meritocratic system.

Factors of success

• Efficient leadership demonstrated in gaining approval by the governing council, as an initiative of the Rector that means that it cannot be easily dissolved or unheard.
• The proactive involvement and commitment of the implementing team.
• Appropriate management, since from the very beginning, tools for its sustainability were created (the Observatory Advisory Council and the Equality Commissioner).
• High level of gender expertise of the team in charge of the prior diagnosis and design.

Obstacles, barriers to implementation

The first equality action plan involved the implementation of various actions aimed at preventing sexism, guaranteeing gender equality, mainstreaming gender in programs etc. The Observatory was in charge of implementing some of the measures, namely those related to dissemination. The responsibility for other actions was delegated to various university units. Due to differing levels of commitment and/or lack of resources/experience within the various units, the achievement of objectives was uneven.

Lessons Learned

Some changes were introduced as a result of lessons learned from the first action plan:

• Creation of a new position of responsibility (plan representatives within university units), to coordinate and guarantee the initiative progress within the various units. This response would ensure the proper implementation of specific measures.
• More stringent monitoring measures are to be introduced, to provide a clearer idea about who is and who is not fulfilling their role and also to offer advice and guidance.
• Evaluation was not really taken into account in the first action plan and is now one of the key areas for improvement of the Observatory for Equality.

Therefore, the main lesson learned is that in non-priority and new projects, results cannot be left to informal (non-monitored) cooperation and some form of evaluation is necessary.

Benefit for the organisation

The corporate image of the institution has been boosted, since it is the first university to devise and implement such a wide-ranging gender strategy in Spain.

The Campus Excellence (Campus de Excelencia) award of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to Spanish universities (and which includes a monetary prize) has as one of its requirements performing or having performed equality measures/plans at the university. The UAB won this award in 2009.

Sustainability of the initiative

The Observatory is still active and draws up equality actions plans every two years.
The responsibility for implementing action plan proposals lies with the Equality Policies Commissioner.

Transferability

Several initiatives (such as equality posts in US universities) were taken into account but not fully transferred.

The Observatory has been invited to many Spanish universities to share their advice. The University Rovira i Virgili has taken into account the structural and operational framework of the UAB observatory for the creation of its own Observatory for Equality. Given the similarity of major Spanish universities, the initiative can be partially or fully transferred.

Systematic Approach

The initiative itself is a coherent strategy to promote equal opportunities at university, one that encompasses both gender-balanced presence and gender in research contents.

Innovation

The systematic approach is the most innovative feature of the initiative.

Monitoring / Evaluation

Evaluation has not yet been fully completed but will be available soon (for the current action plan).

Summary: This initiative is good practice because...

The Observatory for Equality created by the UAB to support the design and evaluation of equality policies is a stable and sustainable initiative. It is based on institutional commitment on gender equality and a comprehensive strategy that ensures a progressively wider participation of the university community. It involves a systematic approach to equality, since it incorporates gender-balanced presence and gender in research contents.

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