Gender balance and gender perspectives in research and innovation
Policy for the Research Council of Norway 2013 – 2017
Norway has been a global leader in many the areas concerned with gender and the improvement of opportunities for women to achieve full levels of equality.
The Norwegians are demonstrating that they have the ambition and determination to complete their task by setting achievable goals supported by both a strategy and will power to ensure that in any areas related to gender where they are not achieving their best, will be tackled in a systematic and supported way by setting targets to achieve their policy goals.
Their recently released document, outlined below states:
1 The Norwegian Research Council will be a driving force
The Research Council has worked for many years to promote gender equality in research, gender perspectives in research and fundamental knowledge about gender. We seek to be a driving force in these areas, both nationally and internationally.With regard to gender balance, we are especially concerned with accelerating the pace at which change is taking place in senior-level academic positions and research management. In Norway, the number of women and men earning doctoral degrees is the same. Yet even in areas where women constitute the majority of doctoral students, it is men who comprise the majority of those recruited to research careers in top positions.
In a research context, Norway is ranked at the top in Europe with regard to the proportion of women on boards and as leaders of institutions. But when it comes to “grade A” professorships, Norway lies just slightly below average.
The loss of female research talent gives cause for concern for both Norwegian and international research. Experience shows that introducing simple, concrete measures can lead to a substantial improvement in the gender composition. But to bring about a more sweeping change, leaders within the sector must play an active role. In recent years the Research Council has introduced gender perspectives in research as a mandatory criterion in the assessment of grant applications.
All of our programmes and initiatives must specifically assess what the gender dimension means for their particular knowledge field. If we are to succeed, we must raise the level of expertise among everyone involved. The aim is to enhance the overall quality of research.
Gender balance and gender perspectives also receive considerable attention in European research and innovation policy. We must aspire to become one of the leading countries in Europe in this area. Norway has all the prerequisites – culturally, economically and politically to achieve this goal.
Research, via gender as one of several key perspectives, to gender as the main theoretical or empirical focus. Gender research projects are increasingly being funded through the Research Council’s open arenas, thematically oriented programmes and other types of initiatives.
Research institutions have an ongoing responsibility to maintain gender research as a separate field of knowledge, and the Research Council will follow developments in this area.
Mandatory criterion
In recent years the Research Council has introduced gender perspectives in research as a mandatory criterion in the assessment of grant applications. In order for this measure to be effective, it is necessary to increase awareness and competence within the Research Council administration and among those who assess grant applications. To succeed in achieving broad-based integration, the responsibility for this must be clearly defined within the organisation.
The Research Council will follow up the policy by establishing operational targets with clear leadership responsibility and report on the performance within its own activities.
1. The Research Council will assume a greater national responsibility for promoting gender perspectives in research and innovation
The Research Council will:
- establish a national meeting place on gender perspectives in research between basic gender research, other research fields and across disciplines;
- draw on gender research when developing subject field strategies and evaluations;
- include discussions of gender perspectives in research policy input related to government white papers, national strategies, institutional strategies, the development of international research initiatives, etc.;
- incorporate gender perspectives in the Research Council’s dialogue with research institutions;
- integrate gender perspectives in Norway’s participation in the EU framework programmes and international funding instruments
2. The Research Council will work more systematically to promote gender perspectives within its own administration of research funding
- Assess the significance of gender perspectives in the development and programmes and activities;
- Introduce annual division-based reporting on efforts related to gender perspectives in programmes and activities;
- Strengthen gender perspectives in selected priority areas;
- assess the relevance of gender perspectives in all application assessment;
- implement competence-building measures for the administration and programme boards in various thematic and subject areas;
- take the initiative to strengthen policy oriented research on gender equality challenges in society.
3. The Research Council will strengthen the knowledge base on gender perspectives for use in research and innovation policy
- evaluate the capacity and quality of gender research in Norway with a view to developing this research field;
- include analyses of gender perspectives in the Research Council’s annual reports
To download the full report..…. more
“Despite some advances in recent years, women in research remain a minority
and a glass ceiling is in particular blocking women from top positions. This is a
serious injustice and a scandalous waste of talent.
The Commission is focused on fostering gender equality in our research programmes, and working to change a deeply rooted institutional culture.”
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science