Leading Change
GEMINI’s WP2 Head Champions Gender Inclusion at University of Algarve
By Alexandre Condeças 21 June 2024
Professor Joana Santos, leader of GEMINI’s ‘Monitoring and Evaluating’ Work Package 2, also plays a vital role in the University of Algarve’s Gender Equality Inclusivity Plan. Her unique position and personal commitment to promoting equality and diversity in academia ensures a “happy marriage” that enhances both GEMINI’s goals and UAlg’s strategies. This alignment not only boosts the visibility of GEMINI’s initiatives but also ensures their lasting impact at the local level.
The birth of Gen.IN.UALG
The Gender Equality Inclusivity Plan of the University of Algarve (shortened to Gen.IN.UALG), in effect since 2022, reinforces the institutions’ social responsibility. According to this plan’s webpage:
The University of Algarve is a centre for the creation, transmission, and sharing of culture and humanistic, artistic, scientific, and technological knowledge, contributing to promoting culture and science in society, seeking to improve its capacity to anticipate and respond to social, scientific and technological changes in order to develop communities, particularly the Algarve region, striving for social cohesion, and promoting and consolidating the values of freedom and citizenship (read about Gen.IN.UALG by following this link).
To achieve this, the Gender Equality Inclusivity Plan’s team started by conducting data collection efforts (both in 2022 and 2023) concerning discrimination and bullying perceptions (focusing on gender and other categories of diversity) both for staff and students at the university. Results have been published and made available to UAlg’s community.
However, recognizing the need to go beyond the diagnose of these issues, the team contemplated, in its plan and from the get-go, several initiatives to actively address critical issues. It is in this context that Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve was born.
How does Gen.IN.UALG work?
Organized by the UAlg’s Gender Equality Inclusivity Plan team, this initiative is comprised of several online sessions spanning over the years of 2023 and 2024. For each session, a different expert is invited to interact with different publics of the academic community, providing insights regarding their areas of expertise and, thus, combining the spheres of work, academia and diversity.
All sessions are organized according to three different areas:
- Gender (dis)equality at work (essentially aimed at staff, teachers, non-teaching staff and researchers);
- Gender diversity (essentially aimed at students and scholarship holders);
- Living (in) academia (aimed at the entire university community).
These sessions are thus intended to reach the entire academic community.
Gen.IN.UALG’s formal start began on December 21, 2023, through the inaugural online session for the presentation of monitoring results (pertaining to an internal audit regarding gender inequality perceptions and gender-related bullying within the institution) and with the goal of involving the community in the actions planned for 2024.
The Gender (dis)equality at work sub-theme has the underlying goal of organizing thematic sessions “that seek to provide information and promote the exchange of experiences, actions, and recommendations that contribute to an inclusive university (promote an inclusive organizational culture)” (Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve, p. 2). At this time two sessions have already been successfully conducted. The first session entitled Gender equality at work in Portugal: The case of Academia occurred on February 21 with guest speaker Professor Cristina Vieira (Ph.D.). It had the main goal of raising awareness on gender (dis)equality in higher education institutions among UAlg’s staff and researchers.
The second session Dignity at Work: Harassment and violence in the workplace was held on May 21 and involved guest Professor Sónia P. Gonçalves (Ph.D.). It intended to analyze the “concepts of harassment and violence in the workplace; defend the values of non-discrimination and combat harassment at work; reinforce the notion of harassment at work as a violation of the concept of decent work” (Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve, p. 2).
The second session Dignity at Work: Harassment and violence in the workplace was held on May 21 and involved guest Professor Sónia P. Gonçalves (Ph.D.). It intended to analyze the “concepts of harassment and violence in the workplace; defend the values of non-discrimination and combat harassment at work; reinforce the notion of harassment at work as a violation of the concept of decent work” (Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve, p. 2).
The sub-theme of Gender diversity aims at “promoting socially responsible and inclusive citizenship, with respect for dignity, equality and the right to difference” (Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve, p. 4), while Living (in) academia’s purpose is to “encourage the creation of training activities in the areas of gender equality, inclusion and well-being” (Gen.IN.UALG: Gender and Inclusion at the University of Algarve, p. 6). For this sub-theme, one session was put forth, titled Diversity in Academia: Discrimination in the Context of the University with guest speaker Professor Alexandra Gomes (Ph.D), aiming towards presenting available data on perceived discrimination (on the basis of gender, nationality, etc.) with Social Psychology theoretical models to students.
Additionally, Gen.IN.UALG’s plan contemplates several future sessions across all three sub-topics scheduled throughout 2024 and building on its own momentum.
Concluding remarks and relations to the GEMINI Project
In sum, Gen.IN.UALG was conceptualized and put forth by the University of Algarve’s Gender Equality Inclusivity Plan Team, in which GEMINI’s WP2 leader plays a prominent role. Professor Joana’s concomitant role as Subdirector of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences and personal interest in the domain of gender and inclusion allows her to bring these issues to the forefront of UAlg’s academic life. This initiative contributes not only to the fulfilment of UAlg’s Equality and Inclusion Plan’s goals, but also to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the GEMINI project both in terms of increasing its visibility and, due to GEMINI’s potential, to increase awareness and renew interest regarding the project’s core themes – gender and gender equality – among the different academic community publics.
Gen.IN.UALG’s detailed plan can be accessed here.
