Gender equality in the information systems and tecnhonology fields: a comprehensive diagnosis at the school of engineering of the University of Minho

Abstract

Gender equality in academia and science has been a central theme in several scientific studies around the world. Over the last few years, there has been an extensive literature production on the explicit and implicit processes that drive gender inequalities and make them persist over time. In contexts of increasing mobility, globalization and cultural change, it is urgent that science and education policies, defined in the context of Universities and their human resources (including teaching, non-teaching staff as well as students), recognize the existence of gender inequalities and promote effective measures for its eradication, in a collective and participatory approach. Despite the production of literature attesting the existence of gender inequalities in academia, which documents processes of segregation and discrimination that affect the various participants of the organization as well as a set of methodological proposals to overcome them, it has not proved sufficient to change the reality of practices in teaching and research institutions Since gender inequality is a transversal problem and holds implications for the University as a whole, and individually for the people that compose it, this study documents the initial measures implemented at Engineering School, as part of Project EQUAL_IST- Gender Equality Plan for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions, which is being carried out by teams in several European countries, and aims, mainly, to study and intervene in the advancement of gender equality in the area of Technology and Information systems.