European Commission

This project has received funding from the European Union's H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824544

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Female Professors Program of Federal and States Governments III

Submitted by: Ramona Liedtke, Rectorate Staff Unit Integration Team – Human Resources, Gender and Diversity Management (IGaD)

- ongoing

Female Professors Program of Federal and States Governments III

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research initiated the programme in 2010 in order to increase the number of female professors. In the current third round, RWTH Aachen University acquired funding for three professorships for a period of five years each and is using the funds that become available to finance the following gender equality measures:
  • Qualification positions for female postdocs in the STEM fields or in the field of medicine/life sciences
  • Flexible Career Management (FCM) for female postdocs, including the Mentoring Program TANDEMplus for female postdocs (in English)
  • Career advancement and networking for young female researchers
  • Offers for schoolgirls to take up studies in the STEM fields
  • Development of a Gender Portal in order to raise awareness of managers

COMPASS PERSPECTIVE – in what way(s) was the measure C O M P A S S?

C for the creativeness we needed to design measures outside the box, especially the FCM and the offers to school girls

P for the RWTH processes that guarantee fair and transparent appointment procedures to the female professors required by the programme

S for the SMART objectives and measures designing and carrying out the measures

S for the sustainability we provide by the career advancement for female students, predocs and postdocs by mentoring and networking

ACTORS AND STAKEHOLDERS

  • Appointment Officer, Advisory Team for Appointments, the faculties and members of the appointment committees
  • Central administration, specifically Finances and Division Management of Third Party Funds
  • Programme Coordinator at Rectorate Staff Unit Integration Team – Human Resources, Gender and Diversity Management (IGaD)
  • Officers at Equal Opportunities Office and Student Advice Centre to implement the gender equality measures
  • the funded female professors and the female postdocs

AUTHOR’S REFLECTIONS

What would you do the same/differently another time?
What have you learnt? Do you see relevance for this in other contexts?

Gender equality measures are vital for awareness-raising, implementing, and sustaining gender equality, so we need many of them and this programme is a good first step.

Currently, we address schoolgirls from the age of about 16 years and older. I think we should address even younger girls and also boys, even from the kindergarten age on, to help them grow up in a gender-equal environment.