The University’s Gender Equality Office marked the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day with two well-attended events – a celebratory ceremony and a panel discussion.

Keynote speech by Jutta Limbach: ‘Gender Equality in Theory and Practice’

On the eve of 8 March, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jutta Limbach delivered a keynote address on the topic of “Gender Equality in Theory and Practice”. At the invitation of the Chief Gender Equality Officer, Anne G. Kosfeld, the former President of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Goethe Institute took stock of the Federal Republic’s legal achievements on the path to equality – and highlighted the steps that still need to be taken to move closer to this goal in everyday social life. For whilst civil laws have been reformed since the 1970s to promote gender equality, “the persistent myth of a divinely ordained division of labour” continues to hold sway, according to Limbach. Despite the recently introduced ‘paternity leave’, full-time employment for women in Germany is still far from being taken for granted, as it is in France, for example. At universities, too, such structural barriers often work to the disadvantage of young female academics.

Karin Lochte: “Women and the Sea – How a ‘Male-Dominated Profession’ is Changing”

The lecture by Prof. Dr Karin Lochte, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven, impressively demonstrated that role models can, in principle, be changed. Under the title “Women and the Sea – How a ‘Male-Dominated Profession’ is Changing”, she used vivid examples from the world of polar and marine research to demonstrate the positive effects of technical innovations and a gender-sensitive working environment. Since she herself took part in a research expedition in 1977 as one of the first women to do so – and served as expedition leader for the first time in 1995 – the proportion of women has risen to around 30 per cent today, according to Lochte. Mixed-gender teams are now also the norm at polar research stations. To attract more women to leadership roles, the Chair of the DFG Commission of the Senate for Oceanography is committed to consistently promoting young talent.

Panel discussion: “Opportunities. Equality. Future. Taking Stock”

Working conditions in academia were also the focus of the panel discussion moderated by Anne G. Kosfeld under the theme “Opportunities. Equality. Future”, featuring representatives from the fields of university management, administration and research/teaching at the University of Oldenburg on 8 March. Since its founding in the early 1970s – when its decision-making body was initially composed entirely of men – the university has made enormous progress, not least thanks to the joint commitment of women in administration and academia and the subsequent institutionalisation of gender equality work. However, targeted support for women, based on empirical data regarding areas where they remain under-represented, is still necessary. Furthermore, she noted that acceptance of different life circumstances remains one of the greatest challenges overall. Equal opportunities concern everyone, according to the unanimous view of the panellists – who would also like to see International Women’s Day expanded in future to include the perspectives of interested men.