ATHENA project partners have finalised their Gender Training Programmes for internal staff in their institutions!

Developing Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) also involves awareness-raising and training actions on gender equality and unconscious bias for staff and decision-making positions. Moreover, the ATHENA consortium considers that training actions are key to increasing sensitivity to gender equality at the same time as giving people the skills and knowledge to be engaged towards it.

In this context, ATHENA research performing organisations (RPOs) and research funding organisations (RFOs) implementing GEPs have developed a step-to-step Gender Training Programme. First, each institution designed and put in place a gender training programme (a ‘train the trainers’ activity) aimed at qualifying the GEPI Committees for them to be able to promote the institutional transformation in terms of gender aspects.

After this first step, the GEPI Committees designed and deployed a training programme for the whole institutional community, i.e, the internal staff (researchers, professors, administrative staff, human resources staff) and, in the case of the RPOs, students.

The training programme is composed of at least five modules, which focus on different topics and address different groups in accordance with each institution’s needs. Some of the topics that were included in the modules were:

• Unconscious bias (mandatory topic addressing the staff and decision-makers);

• Gender-responsive budgeting;

• The gender dimension in Research;

• Work-life balance and organizational culture;

• Gender equality in leadership positions and decision-making;

• Gender equality in career progression and recruitment;

• How to combat gender-based violence and sexual harassment;

• Tools for an inclusive language.

Overall topics of the different Gender Training Programmes

As for the modality, they have been delivered both face-to-face and online, and more than 1200 people in total have attended these modules.

The Gender Training Programmes have been successful in each RFO and RPO. Participants showed their interest in the different topics addressed and they asked to be involved in upcoming events. Furthermore, these sessions proved that there is still a lack of awareness about some aspects of gender inequality, highlighting the need for this kind of trainings.