Strengthening gender equality and inclusiveness in the ERA, notably with an intersectional approach

Structural Policy 3 in the ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027)

This structural policy will improve the quality and societal relevance of R&I, help attracting and retaining more diverse talent into Europe’s R&I system, and help to ensure that everyone can maximise their potential, demonstrating that the EU remains committed to leading at international level in ensuring gender equality and inclusiveness, notably with an intersectional approach, in R&I.

Objectives

• Deepen policy dialogue and the coordination of policies and actions among Member States, and, where appropriate, Associated Countries and stakeholders, on gender equality and inclusiveness, notably with an intersectional approach, in R&I, including institutional/structural changes through inclusive gender equality plans (GEP), integrating the gender dimension in R&I content, ending gender-based violence, and developing gender budgeting;
• advance gender equality and inclusiveness, notably with an intersectional approach, in R&I through the uptake and refining of existing recommendations and tools;
• improve data collection, monitoring and evaluation on gender equality and inclusiveness, notably with an intersectional approach, in R&I to identify successful practices and challenges and any gaps to be addressed by future policies and measures;
• reduce geographical differences in addressing gender equality and inclusiveness, notably with an intersectional approach, among Member States and, where appropriate, Associated Countries.
• Achieve a higher rate of participation of women and under-represented researchers, improve the quality of working (and studying) conditions ensuring gender equality, gender balance, equal opportunities and inclusiveness for researchers from all backgrounds, including under-represented and marginalised groups, fairer recruitment, promotion and budget allocation, availability of work-life balance measures, safer gender-violence-free environments, better gender balance in decision-making positions, and unbiased and higher quality R&I outputs.

Expected outcomes

• Devise a monitoring and evaluation approach for effective implementation of inclusive GEPs;
• develop guidelines for implementing an intersectional approach in R&I policy, including in the collection, selection and analysis of indicators;
• design a monitoring and evaluation approach increasing the uptake of the integration of the gender dimension in R&I content;
• enhanced gender mainstreaming mechanism for synergies with other ERA actions at the EU and national level;
• implement the Code of Conduct on gender-based violence in R&I developed by Action 5 of the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024;
• principles developed for gender budgeting and expenditures tracking in R&I.

Background information

Gender equality has been a priority of the European Research Area (ERA) since 2012. Since 2020, the ERA has opened up to inclusive gender equality, addressing multiple discrimination, the intersection of gender and other grounds of discrimination, and sectoral and geographical inclusiveness.

In the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024, gender equality was addressed through the specific action 'Promoting gender equality and fostering inclusiveness', which entailed four interlinked outcome deliverables. These focused on issues such as policy coordination and support for inclusive gender equality plans and policies, combating gender-based violence in the European research and innovation (R&I) system, ensuring gender mainstreaming in research and innovation content, and gender mainstreaming in ERA.

For more information:

Horizon Europe support for gender equality | European Research Area Platform

Zero-tolerance code of conduct - Publications Office of the EU

ERA Portal Austria – Inclusive Gender Equality