Gender Equality Plans and Inclusiveness in the European Research Area

Mazlum Karataş, Andrea Löther and Lena Weber
Additional contact information
Mazlum Karataş: Department of Data and Research on Society, GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany
Andrea Löther: Department of Data and Research on Society, GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany
Lena Weber: Department of Data and Research on Society, GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany

Social Inclusion, 2025, vol. 13

Abstract: Gender equality is a key objective of the European Research Area. The arsenal of gender equality concepts has expanded considerably over the past decades—from gender mainstreaming in the 1990s to the current inclusion, diversity, and intersectionality approaches. Gender equality plans (GEPs) are key to increasing gender equality. With the launch of Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research and innovation program 2021–2027, the European Commission introduced a new eligibility criterion: To be eligible, any research‐performing organization (RPO) applying for funding, except private companies, must have a GEP in place. There is little evidence on the prevalence of GEPs at RPOs, and if they incorporate concepts about inclusiveness, which is increasingly intended. To address this knowledge gap, we present the first results of a unique mixed‐method study that combines online survey data ( ? = 270) and web‐scraping data ( ? = 6,475). Almost half of the studied organizations (41%) have a GEP. Our results show differences for organization types, i.e., private companies are less likely to have one (6%). Moreover, the intersectionality approach (14%) is less frequently used in GEPs than inclusion (76%) and diversity (80%). Diversity as an approach is significantly more widespread in Northwestern Europe compared to Central Eastern and Southern European countries. Based on our study, we recommend that policymakers develop measures for private companies as well and call for further support to develop intersectional and inclusive approaches of GEPs in RPOs.

Keywords: diversity; European Research Area; gender equality plans; Horizon Europe; inclusion; intersectionality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/10092 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:10092

DOI: 10.17645/si.10092

Access Statistics for this article

Social Inclusion is currently edited by Mariana Pires

More articles in Social Inclusion from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().