Abstract:

Gender equality has an important place in the policies of the European Union (EU). Many EU policies encourage organizations from all sectors to develop and implement Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). The issue of adopting institutional GEP has become particularly relevant since the European Commission introduced GEP as an eligibility criterion for all public bodies, higher education institutions and research organizations from the EU member states and associated countries wishing to participate in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2021-2027.

To comply with the Horizon Europe GEP eligibility criterion, a GEP had to meet four mandatory process-related requirements: being a public document, having dedicated resources and expertise, data collecting and monitoring, and training. The adopted GEP is not in itself a guarantee that the measures set out in it will be implemented and will lead to the desired changes in the institution, therefore its implementation needs to be monitored. Monitoring has to ensure that the GEP objectives are met, the planned measures are implemented efficiently and effectively, and that an environment improvement, in terms of equality between women and men, is initiated.

The paper presents an approach to monitoring the implementation of a GEP. This approach includes the determination of players and stakeholders who will participate in the monitoring process and their responsibilities, the timing of the monitoring, the data collection methods and tools, the stakeholders who will use the monitoring findings and a description of the procedure. Following this approach, the paper presents an example of a developed monitoring procedure and designed data collection tools.

Keywords:

Gender equality, gender equality plan, monitoring, higher education.