Despite a number of successes that have been achieved at German universities in the area of gender equality in recent years, women are still underrepresented in professorships. The HRK has taken this existing imbalance as an opportunity to intensify efforts to achieve greater gender equality in appointments in the form of a voluntary commitment by German universities.
Around 30 German higher education institutions and universities, including HNU, have already signed up to the paper adopted at the 38th General Assembly in May 2024. “At HNU, we see equality as an essential building block for a functioning academic system,” says University President Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser. “It is right and important that this topic is now gaining further momentum with the HRK resolution.”
Resolution promotes sustainable commitment to more women in academia
The voluntary commitment comprises five concrete goals, corresponding fields of action and measures that can contribute to the realization of an institutional cultural and structural change towards more gender equality at universities. Among other things, the HRK recommends a more active recruitment of women in early academic career phases, the establishment of more gender-equitable appointment procedures and the institutional anchoring of gender sensitization.
Gender equality at HNU: “We want to achieve even more”
At HNU, these recommendations are falling on fertile ground: many of the fields mentioned in the voluntary commitment are already covered, for example with the Women.Doing.Science program or the HNU Gender Equality Concept (opens in a new window), which meets the strict requirements of the Gender Equality Plan for European research projects.
“HNU is already well positioned in terms of gender equality - but we want to achieve even more,” explains Prof. Dr. Claudia Kocian-Dirr, HNU's Gender Equality Officer for Women in Science and the Arts. “Based on the voluntary commitment, we will consistently continue our successful gender equality work and develop further innovative measures in our team.”
To the resolution
HRK resolution “On the way to more gender equality in appointments - voluntary commitment of German universities (opens in a new window)” of 14.5.2024.
HNU contact
Prof. Dr. Claudia Kocian-Dirr
