HR Award – Equal conditions for women and men at the faculty examined by a gender audit

Diverse teams make better decisions and come up with better solutions. Promoting gender equality therefore also pays off in research and development. Gender equality measures increase competitiveness in grant competitions, and a gender equality plan is also a mandatory condition for the participation of our male and female scientists in the new Horizon Europe framework program from 2022.

The first step in the preparation of the Gender Equality Plan was the implementation of a gender audit at Masaryk University in all its faculties and units. The results of these partial audits will then be used as a basis for the preparation of the University Plan.

At the FA MU, work on the gender audit was carried out from March to July 2021 following the methodological recommendation of the MU Rector's Office (RMU). The gender audit at FA MU was ensured by internal resources and supplemented by consultations of an external expert from the National Contact Centre for Gender and Science. As gender equality is one of the principles of the Charter and the Code and the topic is included in the Action Plan HR Award FA MU, the implementation of the audit was undertaken by the HR Award FA MU project team under the auspices of the Steering Committee HR Award FA MU. Members of the Faculty's top management – the Vice-dean for Research and Development Lukáš Fasora and the Vice-dean for Publishing and Public Relations Jana Horáková and representatives of academic staff also directly participated in the working group.

The audit was based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the state of equal opportunities and working conditions at the FA MU. It comprised an institutional analysis of internal regulations, documents and processes, content analysis of promotional materials, re-analyses of the results of the Questionnaire Survey HR Award FA MU 2020, and the Questionnaire Survey for Ph.D. students FA MU 2021 from the perspective of equal opportunities. Available statistical data was collected and analyzed in terms of the number of men and women at different levels of study, in different positions and functions, in terms of remuneration, career progression, flexible forms of work, etc. Important inputs for the gender audit were also obtained from group interviews with employees of our faculty.

Based on the methodological recommendation of the RMU, the gender audit focused on the following areas:

1. Organizational culture
2. Work-life balance
3. Recruitment and selection
4. Career progression
5. Gender balance in leadership and decision-making
6. Measures against gender-based violence including sexual harassment
7. Integration of the gender dimension into research and innovation
8. Study and student population

All findings and proposals for measures at the faculty and university level were compiled into the Final Report of the FA MU Gender Audit, approved by the faculty management, and submitted to the RMU at the end of July 2021 as a basis for the preparation of the MU Gender Equality Plan.

We sincerely thank all those who participated, whether by expressing their opinions in group discussions, during the commenting on the audit outputs, or by providing other professional assistance.

What's next? Based on the findings of the gender audit of its faculties and units, Masaryk University will create a MU Gender Equality Plan, which will be published in early 2022. This will be followed by the creation of a FA MU Gender Equality Plan during 2022. In connection with these plans, many measures will be implemented to promote gender equality at the university and faculty level, which you will be kept informed of.