Involving the Equal Opportunites Officer as an expert
Involving the Equal Opportunites Officer as an expert
Based on her expertise, the Chief Gender Equality Officer advises the Presidential Board on all matters relating to Gender equality. She is involved in personnel measures and strategic committees such as the University Senate and the University Council and therefore has a broad overview of the Gender equality situation at a university. In this way, she identifies areas where action is needed, which can provide important information for the strategic management of the university management and its conceptual implementation. She is also the point of contact for women in academia, administration and technical areas and advises on individual career opportunities and in cases of conflict and discrimination.
The Chief Gender Equality Officer must be involved in decisions that may affect the Gender equality of women
Current developments at universities, such as digitalisation, are leading to a large number of changes in personnel policy and organisation. It is not always immediately apparent what consequences these decisions have for women's Gender equality in the various areas of the university. Ideally, these changes should be used to further advance Gender equality. It is therefore particularly important that the Chief Gender Equality Officer - as required by law - is involved in these changes and monitors them.
Gender equality for women remains a constitutional mandate
Art. 3 para. 2 of the Basic Law contains the explicit constitutional mandate for the state to promote Gender equality between men and women and thus goes beyond the prohibition of discrimination thematised in Art. 3 para. 3 of the Basic Law (Hillermann 2021, 29f). This is also reflected in the equality mandate of universities enshrined in the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act.
As became clear when analysing the gender gaps, we are still a long way from gender equality, and in some places we are even moving backwards. This is why the promotion of women enshrined in the constitution is still very relevant.
Article 3 (3) of the Basic Law stipulates that no one may be discriminated against because of their gender, origin, religious or political beliefs, etc. Women in particular often suffer from multiple discrimination. Women in particular are often affected by multiple discrimination. In connection with the internationalisation of universities, among other things, intersectional Gender equality will gain in importance in the future.
Women are best supported by women
In the context of promoting women, the Equal Opportunities Officer must be able to assess current situations from the perspective of women and develop alternative solutions. This applies as long as women are structurally disadvantaged by role stereotypes, for example, or underrepresented in certain areas. It is also primarily female employees who are affected by sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a 2019 study by the BMFSFJ.
In recent years, several court judgements have confirmed that the office of equal opportunities officer can only be held by a woman.