So, I just got put in charge of Equal Opportunities, what do I need to know/do now?

[jamaisjedors]

Over the summer I was put forward for a role (in addition to my teaching hours here at a fairly small University in France) which involves liaising between sixth forms/secondary and Higher Education.

Today in discussions it transpires that part of the role will also to be to be the advisor/contact person for Equal Opportunities.

Obviously this is not just with regard to women/men, but it was made clear that this is a pretty big part of it.

I'm quite excited about this, I have always said that I am a feminist and will now (maybe) have an opportunity to do something about it, but I'm not sure where to start.

I have a big meeting in a couple of weeks with all the main people involved in Male/Female Equality in the Département (regional area).

Any tips for what I should be reading up on or particularly careful/aware of?

Obviously the UK situation will be slightly different than that of France, but your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Mostly it's looking at the issue at the level of Secondary/HE.

Thanks!

[PetulaGordino]

just to make sure i've understood, is this particularly in relation to university admissions?

[PetulaGordino]

congratulations on the new/additional role btw!

[jamaisjedors]

Thank you! Part of it is in relation to university admissions (trying to get more girls into traditionally male courses is one aim apparantly), and part of it is promoting equal opportunities across the university I guess - but actually I should probably check that - find out if the focus is on staff too or not?

[PetulaGordino]

i have absolutely zero expertise here, but my feeling is re girls onto traditionally male courses to get in there when they're as young as possible. in a sense, once they're sixth form age it's a bit late because the insecurities and the socialisation is more set in

though it's a long time since i had anything to do with the french education system and iirc they keep things broader for longer, so you're not restricted to 4ish subjects at 17/18yo?

[feelingmellow]

Start by doing the following:
Check university policy, check relevant government policy and legislation, check whether university teachers have any formal training in equal opps and enactment- ie has policy translated into practice.
Also find out which courses are imbalanced in respect sex or ethnic origin; what, if anything is stated in university promotional literature
Be clear what authority you will have to make changes

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Athena Swan has some stuff on their website for ideas but their website seems to have disappeared and they seem to be a subset of the Equality challenge unit with nothing very useful on ... If you google Athena Swan you can get some UK university department application document and see what their action plans are!

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Agree it's too little too late.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Still, better late than never.

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

In the UK, things like sexist freshers week events promoting the rape of drunken girls are atrocious for equal opportunities.
The union shop selling sexist newspapers and porn too.
I'd have thought that good conditions for female staff - recruitment of women, equal pay, maternity leave, no ridiculous expectations of how many papers you can publish while raising an infant, no sexual harassment etc would be good examples for female students.

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

I'd read/re-read delusions of gender for examples of gender bias in academia, anyway.

[jamaisjedors]

Sorry, was a little snowed under so didn't check in again.

Lots of useful answers, thank you.

I LOVED reading Delusions of Gender so will re-read it.

I don't think there is a formal fresher's week but will check about that kind of thing. No union shop either (actually the "campus" is pretty dry and lacking in life).

I agree (and the President of the University also mentioned) that the stereotyping starts much earlier.

His take was that we are educating the parents of the future, and therefore they will have a huge influence on THEIR children, so it was still important to implement things at university level - he cited a study which said that the mother's level of education had a direct influence on a child's future academic/professional success, whereas a father's had v. little or none. Anyone know what that study is?

feelingmellow thank you for those v. practical pointers, will certainly do that.

superloud some good ideas there too - I know there have been some complaints of sexual harrassment (lecturer to students) which are "common-knowledge but were definitely not followed up in a formal way.

With regard to equal pay, we are all civil servants so on a set pay scale. AFAIK recruitment of women is not a problem (but it would be good to see actual figures and who is in which role (ie secretaries/managers) - mind you at the moment we are on zero recruitment because of budgetary issues so that one might wait a while!

Any other thoughts (practical suggestions or just discussion of the issues involved) would be greatly appreciated if anyone is interested.

Thanks!

[EBearhug]

I've a couple of links to French organisations which support women in science and technology, which I think might be helpful - but I'm not at home currently, and don't have my laptop with me, so I'll check when I get back home.

[jamaisjedors]

That would be great. Thanks.

[gamescompendium]

Buffy your local STEM co-ordinator is the one to talk to about getting scientists into primaries. Of course it is still dependent on female scientists to volunteer for those roles. DD1 (6) was told by a classmate that I couldn't possibly be a scientist because only boys were scientists. Sigh.

There is loads of good stuff in Pink Brain Blue Brain about counteracting societal pressure on your kids. Stereotype threat is what you need to be concerned about.

[EBearhug]

Parite Sciences
Femmes et Sciences Association

They will probably have links to more information (my French is far from fluent.)

[jamaisjedors]

Thanks EBearHug, I've looked up both of those and have contacted them (and Athena Swan - thanks for the link upthread Uptoapoint).

Went to a big meeting today with all the people in charge of Equal Opps and promoting Equality in the area. So now I will have a list of contacts to help me set up projects and define longer term goals.

Very little has been done so for at the university, and I think France is pretty far behind on this kind of thing, judging by UK university websites - although I'd be interested to know how much impact having a defined policy on a website actually has internally.

[EBearhug]

Having a defined policy is a starting point - I guess you need to have a way of tracking it, and handling people/departments who don't follow it, and a way for people to lodge complaints if they think it's not being followed.

You probably also need some sort of training to get everyone informed about it, but that's going to depend on what budget you have. We have quite a few online courses we have to do at work - ones about new policies are usually compulsory. The best session was face to face groups, discussing a new ethics policy, but it's obviously a lot more costly to implement than creating one online course.

[juliascurr]

contact Trade Unions