ATHENA institutions are currently on the stage of drafting their tailored Gender Equality Plans

The main objective of the ATHENA project is to support its partner institutions in the development and implementation of their Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). For that purpose, ATHENA puts in place a support mechanism throughout its project activities to provide project partners with a solid basis, knowledge, skills and tools to develop their tailored and adapted institutional plans. Around one year after the start of the project activities, ATHENA institutions are currently at this stage, i.e. developing and drafting their GEPs, which are expected to be approved in June 2022. Afterwards, they will enter the implementation and monitoring phase.

The ATHENA GEPs are being drafted following common diversity and gender standards. These common standards are based on the main project outcomes obtained so far (i.e., the results from the gender equality audit and assessment of procedures and practices at the organisational and national level; the capacity building activities to the Gender Equality Plan Implementation (GEPI) Committee members; and the analysis of best practices among GEPs implemented by European research organizations) as well as on the content-related recommendations and process-related requirements set by the Horizon Europe programme, which requires research organization, among others, to put in place gender equality plans to be eligible for funding. The common standards set by ATHENA, which cover all the thematic content areas suggested by the EC, relate to the followings:

•  Ensure work-life balance in the working conditions of both men and women within the institution.
•  Implement mechanisms/measures to maintain equal access to leadership positions and ensure transparency in this area.
•  Maintain a high standard of transparency of vacancy announcements when recruiting new employees, to ensure the appropriate language of announcements that will encourage both men and women to apply.
•  Mitigate the disparities and accelerate women´s professional careers through access to mentoring programs and training, ensuring access to funding or support aimed at greater participation of women and men in research and grant acquisition.
•  Support the integration of the gender perspective into the research content or teaching activities.
•  Implement mechanisms for effective identification and response to discriminatory actions and/or sexual harassment.

The ATHENA institutions may complete the common standards with other specific standards and targets based on their needs. To get further information on the GEPs of the partner institutions and their implementation, the ATHENA consortium invites you to stay tuned to the next newsletter releases so you can be up to date.