Open Forum: Gender quotas & positive action - An attack on meritocracy?

On March 20, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. an online lecture about "Gender Quotas and Positive Action - An Attack on Meritocracy?" by Christina Solera from the University of Turin is held as part of the Open Forum series.

From the annotation:

Despite efforts, significant gender gaps persist in research institutions in the EU. Positive measures to address this imbalance are proposed, but concerns about the protection of meritocracy are an obstacle to adoption. However, the evidence challenges the notion that merit is impartial and exposes biases in favor of men. Resistance persists, and opinions differ on which strategies are most effective and valid.

This lecture provides an overview of the multifaceted debate on positive measures, the arguments for, the arguments against, and the ways in which they are implemented. It draws lessons from the gender roadmap process and interviews conducted within the MINDtheGEP project. In conclusion, two case studies from Italian universities are presented.

The target group of the lecture is all involved actors and stakeholders, especially in decision-making bodies.

About the speaker:

Christina Solera is the coordinator of the MINDtheGEPs project, which aims to transform 10 European higher education and research institutions in 5 European countries over 4 years (2021-2025) and increase the number of women working in R&I, improve their career prospects, gender balance in decision-making bodies and integrate the gender dimension in research.

She is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Culture, Politics and Society at the University of Turin, also affiliated to the Collegio Carlo Alberto. Her research interests include women's participation in the labour market, work-family balance, new models of motherhood and fatherhood, comparative social policies, gender and class inequalities.

The lecture is free, but register here.

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