Every organisation (authority) in the state of Lower Saxony, including HAWK, is required to draw up a gender equality plan every three years (Section 15 NGG, Lower Saxony Gender Equality Act).
The aim of the gender equality plan is to promote the actual realisation of equal opportunities for women and men and to eliminate existing disadvantages. The gender equality plan forms part of the university’s development plan. The University Senate adopts the plan in agreement with the Presidential Board (Section 41 (2) NHG, Lower Saxony Higher Education Act).
Since 2022, universities are only eligible for funding under Horizon Europe (EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) if they have set out their gender equality strategies in a gender equality plan. The plan must meet certain requirements, which HAWK has fulfilled through this gender equality plan.
HAWK’s gender equality plan sets out its aims and strategies:
- to reduce gender-related underrepresentation
- to improve the balance between career, studying and family responsibilities
The aims and strategies are based on a review and analysis of gender distribution across HAWK’s various departments.
Gender Equality Plan Strategies 2024–2026
The strategies in HAWK’s Gender Equality Plan 2024–2026 are assigned to five central fields of action:
1. Organisational development
- Taking gender equality into account in all processes and structures
2. Management, personnel development and promotion of young talent
- Taking gender equality into account in specific management actions
- Promoting the professional development of women
3. Recruitment and appointment procedures
- Recruiting staff in departments where one gender is underrepresented,
- in particular, recruiting female professors
4. Choice of degree programme, gender in teaching and research
- Attracting students of the underrepresented gender to study at HAWK
- Teaching gender competence to students
- Integrating gender issues into teaching and research
5. Balancing career, studies and family responsibilities
- Creating family-friendly study and working conditions
- Supporting students and employees with family responsibilities
The six faculties have drawn up partial gender equality plans for the 2024–2026 Gender Equality Plan, which were adopted by the Faculty Council.
Summary of university-wide strategies until 2026:
- Anchoring gender equality issues in the new university development plan and in the revision of the university statutes
- Continuing to implement a sustainable concept for the anti-discrimination committee in accordance with the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG) in order to be able to competently process and prevent complaints of discrimination
- Increasing the implementation of measures against sexualised discrimination and violence, e.g. through designing a safety concept
- Based on its “Gender Equality Concept for Parity”, HAWK was successful in its application to the ”Female Professorships Programme 2030”, which is jointly funded by the German federal government and state governments. This will result in key measures for the coming years:
- Prompt, open-ended, first-time appointment of three female professors who will be funded by the programme for the first five years.
- The funds released will be used to implement the strategies in HAWK’s “Gender Equality Concept for Parity”. This includes establishing a mentoring programme for young female scientists, a lectureship programme for women and a support fund for female doctoral candidates.
- Continuing to provide information specifically to raise women’s awareness of HAWK and the career path of a female professor at a university of applied sciences, with the aim of receiving more applications from qualified women
- Providing training for members of appointment committees on aspects of gender equality in the appointment process – establishing a suitable, binding format
- Increasing efforts to actively approach women as applicants for professorships: – developing and distributing a handout for faculties that documents and evaluates recruitment activities
- Further developing HAWK’s gender research network with events and networking activities for researchers
- Introducing targeted measures to attract the underrepresented gender to HAWK study programmes
- Further developing childcare provision in emergency and special cases according to need – cooperation with external partners is being assessed for this purpose
- Developing a strategic concept for “HAWK: a family friendly university” (e.g. participation in the Family-Friendly University Audit)
