Centre of Gender Studies

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Country: Greece
National Context: Download
Region: Athens
Name of Organisation: Panteion University
Main implementing organisation: Department of Social Policy/ Panteion University
Line of Business: The Departments of Panteion University are the following: Department of Political Science and History, Department of International and European Studies, Department of Public Administration, Department of Sociology, Department of Economic and Regional Development, Department of Social Policy, Department of Social Anthropology, Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Department of Psychology and Department of Law.
Start Date: 2003-05-01
End Date: Still Ongoing
 AllWomen
Number of Employees 507 49.9 %
Employees in R&D 261 41 %
Number of Employees in Top Positions 150 33.33 %
Students 15078 66.7 %
Transferability of the initiativeProgramme has been taken from another context (i.e. country, sector or size of organization)
Programme has already been transferred or will be transferred to another context
Type of initiative referring to strategic objectivesawareness
gender in research
Type of initiative, located on the stage of career progression of women scientistsQualification (Higher Education)

Objectives of the Initiative

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

The initiative primarily addresses undergraduate and post graduate students and young researchers. It informs and raises awareness among young women and men on multiple forms of gender discrimination in society and gender-bias in science. The ensuing consciousness of young women and the scientific motivation are valuable for their successful market integration and career advancement.

Demonstrable success of the initiative

The final outputs exceeded those originally planned.

8 new courses on gender were introduced in the curricula of 4 University Departments. 28 courses were reorganized to include a gender dimension.

The teaching material produced (essays, bibliography, translations of articles and chapters etc.) is on the website.

The following activities were organized:

There is a list of international postgraduate gender studies and Women's Studies of Universities including information for 238 Postgraduate Programs available online.

In the Centre’s library there are 400 titles of books and magazines and 30 films and documentaries for gender issues.

Motives for launching initiative

Gender studies are linked to Political and Social Sciences and therefore there was a high interest from a group of University academic experts on gender issues to undertake such an initiative.

Equal opportunity measures in the organisation before the initiative

Several positive measures were undertaken such as:
• The development of Gender Studies programmes in the Social Sciences
• The introduction of gender and gender equality as topics in undergraduate curricula of participating University Departments.
• The organisation of seminars on topics of applied policies on gender equality.
• The organisation of lectures about the contribution of a gender perspective in the development of sciences in general and of social and political sciences in particular.

Target group(s) of the initiative

Direct Target Groups:

Indirect Target Groups:

Implementation of the initiative

The initiative was implemented for the period 2003-2008 by the following scientific committee
(http://www.genderpanteion.gr/en/epitropi.php):A. Boutzouvi
Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and History, A. Halkias,Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology ,A. Lyberaki ,Professor in the Department of Economic and Regional Development,M. Meidani Tutor in the Department of International and European Studies ,M. Paradissi, Lecturer in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture, X. Petrinioti Professor in the Department of International and European Studies, A. Rigos ,Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and History, M. Stratigaki (Scientific Director),Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Policy.

The initiative was funded by the operational programme EPEAEK II (4.2.1 B “Undergraduate Programmes on Gender and Equality Issues”).

Since 2008, the Centre has been an official research laboratory of Department of Social Policy, of Panteion University.

The Project included the following work packages:

WP1 “Development of Undergraduate courses on Gender and Equality Issues”

The new courses were the following:

WP 2 “Development of Gender Studies in Social Sciences”

WP 3 “Establishment of Centre of Gender Studies”

WP4 ”Seminars on issues of Gender Equality Policies”

WP 5 “Publication and dissemination of results”

The initiative was accepted in a very positive way. A large number of students and researchers visited the Centre and used its facilities such as the library specialized on gender issues and 10 PCs of the Centre for internet access.

A large number of students and researchers visited the Centre’s website and used the digitalised material.

Factors of success

The success of this initiative is mainly attributed to the scientific committee which managed to achieve close collaboration between the following six University Departments:

Obstacles, barriers to implementation

The most difficult aspect during the implementation of the project’s activities was overcoming bureaucratic issues and cash flow.

Lessons Learned

There should have been a greater effort to involve more relevant actors on gender issues.

Benefit for the organisation

The Centre has developed educational and research material (http://www.genderpanteion.gr/en/didaktiko.php), a library (http://www.genderpanteion.gr/en/vivliothiki.php) and video library (http://www.genderpanteion.gr/en/vinteothiki.php) on gender issues available to all University students.

The Centre promotes collaboration between students and professors of Panteion University and other Universities, and networking with other institutions and organizations working on gender equality issues.

Sustainability of the initiative

Since 2008, the Centre is legally affiliated with the Department of Social Policy. The University provides its premises to the Centre and fully covers its operational costs. The research activity is funded through projects.
The Centre is co-ordinating 2 FP7 Research Projects: “Gender, Migration and Intercultural Interactions in the Mediterranean and South East Europe: an interdisciplinary perspective (GeMIC)” and “Transnational Digital Networks, Migration and Gender (MIG@NET)”.

Transferability

Many Centres of gender studies existed in other European and American universities before 2003.
There is communication with other Universities to transfer the methodology of this initiative.

Systematic Approach

The activities of the Centre are largely communicated to the academic community of Panteion and other Greek universities through the organization and participation in lectures, conferences, networks and others scientific and social events.
The Centre has actively supported gender equality initiatives of governmental and local agencies professional associations, women’s groups and NGOs.
The Centre promotes female participation in research teams including male researchers.

Innovation

The innovative aspect of this initiative is the collection of print and electronic documentation on gender topics, including a specialized book and video collection.

Monitoring / Evaluation

http://www.genderpanteion.gr/gr/2009pdf/apologismos.pdf

Summary: This initiative is good practice because...

The Project activities implemented exceeded those planned:

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