Abstract:

Gender equality (GE), besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development. The GE Index (GEI) of European Institute for GE (EIGE) shows that advances in GE are still moving at a snail’s pace. According to GEI Bulgaria has been progressing towards GE at a slower pace than other members especially in academia where institutional changes are not undertaken. For years, efforts have been undertaken towards to promote GE in academia and research across Europe. In this regards, many universities and research organizations in EU countries have achieved important development GE by introducing gender dimensions into their organizational, educational and research activities, by revising or developing gender-mainstreaming strategies or/and by developing and adopting GE plans (GEPs). The paper is devoted to the second step of implementing a GEP in Bulgaria by the University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski” (PU) within the SPEAR Project. It presents a detailed analysis of the gender-related state-of-play in PU following the EIGE’s guide on how to implement GEPs. The analysis is based on the following methods and sources: deep review of national and university policies on GE; collecting and analyzing sex-disaggregated quantitative data (academic staff, non-academic staff, PhD students and students); collecting and analyzing qualitative data on GE-issues; evaluation activities; formal and informal discussions, talks and interviews with staff members and students. Quantitative data about PU academic staff, non-academic staff, PhD students and students is collected using the records from existing databases maintained for the needs of different university units. Statistical analysis is carried out by disaggregation of the data by gender to outline the gender-based differences in percentages according to different characteristics of the target group (field of study/teaching, degree of study, occupation, qualification, etc). The obtained results for PU are compared with the official data on the percentage distribution by gender of students and staff for Bulgaria as a whole and for EU published by Bulgarian National Statistical Institute and Eurostat. To collect qualitative data on GE-issues at PU, 4 surveys have been developed and verified by experts. The 3 of the surveys are conducted among students, PhD students and academic staff, to investigate opinions on issues related to equality between women and men in academia and impressions of whether there is a favourable climate and environment in PU in this regard (satisfaction of own career development, work-life balance and work conditions, attitudes on gender-based traditions and stereotypes and the gender-related atmosphere and culture within PU). The 4-th survey is conducted among all target groups of the university community to collect qualitative data particularly on the attitudes toward some traditional and contemporary stereotypical perceptions and prejudices about the role of women/men in professional and family life. In all performed analyses a special attention is paid on the ratios in the STEM field. Based on the results of state-of-play measures are chosen to build the foundation in all main direction of a GE initiative. The measures are selected according to the recommendations to be SMART (according to GEAR tool), but also to be feasible within the overall national, societal and institutional context.

Keywords:

Gender equality, state-of-play, higher education, gender equality plan.