Following the appointment of the working group and the self-assessment of the starting point, it is crucial to identify indicators to focus on and collect existing sex-disaggregated data.
The structure of the set of indicators and related data to collect should always take into account the main gender principles and topics such as:
- Productive and reproductive work: care activities and paid work
- Horizontal segregation (in education, research, work)
- Vertical segregation (data concerning careers and roles of power within RPOs)
- Intersectionality (data concerning age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, where applicable etc.)
The already existing gender-disaggregated data usually monitor gender dynamics that, for some institutions, are already visible and officially recognised. The first experience of collecting sex-disaggregated data for these institutions could be unsatisfactory since most of them should already be known.
Data collection according to EU standards allows an important exercise of possible comparison with the other RPOs sharing the same set of indicators to detect the degree of progress toward GE across institutions. In LeTSGEPs, we conducted thorough research in order to be able to share as many EU indicators as possible among partners, despite some problems in sharing indicators between universities and research centres.
Although the common indicators are helpful for comparison among RPOs, more is needed to capture the reality and specific features of each RPO, and complementary indicators should be developed. For this reason, the LeTSGEPs Handbook includes a list of indicators to be considered as reference by the first GEPGB year.
Planning every year an increasing development of new gender data offers the possibility of also providing evidence of the hidden gender stereotypes that mainly influence gender inequalities and that very rarely may be detected in the first year of GEPGB. Such an effort should involve both quantitative and qualitative data.
As for quantitative data, they can be taken from administrative sources or collected through surveys. One can deepen the collection of already available gender data that the statistical systems have ignored because they were conceived for different purposes. It happens very often that there are quantitative gender data sets hidden inside RPOs’ administrative cycle that have never been processed with a gender perspective before.
Qualitative data from questionnaires, interviews, or focus groups are essential to uncover hidden gender stereotypes and unanswered questions. They may be developed year by year and may focus on different issues but it is of the utmost importance to define the unsaid and unmeasured impact of reproductive and unpaid work on RPOs’ human resources, whether it is a real impact, concerning children or elderly caregivers, or a supposed and potential impact, which often influences decisions and leads to gender inequalities and discrimination.
A survey on conscious and unconscious gender bias was developed by the LeTSGEPs project, specifically by CY, in collaboration with Unimore, involving the six implementing partners and 905 participants (academic, technical and administrative staff) who filled in the questionnaire. It included several questions to measure gender differences in the subjective perception of working conditions, work-life balance, traditional gender roles, and the personal evaluation of possible GEPGB policies and measures. Moreover, a gender-career Implicit Association Test (IAT) was included in the above questions to assess unconscious gender bias.
For further details on indicators and the survey, download LeTSGEPs Handbook in open access here
The Handbook is available in English and in the national languages of LeTSGEPs partners (Albanian, French, German, Italian, Serbian, Spanish). There is also a version in English for people with visual impairments, so that nobody is left behind.
