SABRE Gender Dimension Study
Gender actions are essential parts of EC funded projects. The development of specific action plans aimed to integrate gender dimension in European research has to be based on powerful gender-sensitive indicators, both quantitative and qualitative.
Within SABRE GAP we will identify indicators measuring the progress of partners in increasing/maintaining levels of gender equality in terms of recruitment, retention and career advancement of women as well as progress in compliance with policies, procedures and programmes which affect the position of both men and women.
A specific questionnaire was designed to monitor the percentage of women involved in the project and to gather data, statistics and indicators on gender specific preferences, attitudes and needs.
The questionnaire aims to:
• assess women’s participation within the Project and in all activities
• identify gender specific attitudes, preferences and needs
• assess job satisfaction level by gender
A preliminary survey was carried out at the beginning of the project to take a census of SABRE participants. The data obtained is summarised as follows:
Early stage* Scientists: 24 % Male, 76 % Female
Experienced** Scientists: 61 % Male, 39 % Female
*An early stage scientist has less than 4 years experience after graduation
**An experience scientist has a minimum of 4 years experience after graduation or a PhD
A second questionnaire was disseminated in Spring 2007 in order to obtain gender-disaggregated data with regard to:
• participation in the SABRE Project at all levels;
• distribution of tasks (wet lab, data analyses, paper writing, etc.) and competences (molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, etc.) within the Project;
• specific preferences or attitudes;
• job satisfaction level (employment level, salary, career, responsibilities, level of job stress, etc.).
This questionnaire will be administered again at the end of the Project (January/March 2010) to point out possible (and desirable) changes.
The data obtained will provide up-to-date statistics and indicators that will show whether the situation is improving and how it differs across scientific areas and countries. The results of the survey will be reported to the Consortium and participants will be encouraged to act on the results to meet better the needs of both genders. Moreover, the results of the survey will help to identify institutions which are not in compliance with principles concerning equal opportunities and to develop specific action plan for those institutes.
In order to face the sociological issues with the necessary knowledge and competences, an external consulting agency has been involved.
Observa – Science in Society (www.observa.it) is an Italian non-profit cultural association which aims at promoting the study and the discussion of the interaction between science and society, stimulating dialogue among researchers, policy makers and citizens. Through its activities, Observa has established collaborations with several national and international organizations, including the European Commission – DG Research, CERN, Lancaster University, Bielefeld University, University College London, University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Austrian Academy of Science, Gran Sasso National Laboratory, European Association of young biotechnologists.
Our questionnaires were designed on the grounds of Observa’s experience and know-how and Observa’s experts will help us in analyzing the data obtained and will also participate in disseminating effectively the results of our survey through publications.
As we believe it is important to combine effort and resources to maximise the data obtain, we have extended the questionnaire to include EADGENE partners. Moreover, in the light of the data obtained, further measures can be implemented in collaboration with EADGENE partners. These cutting edge programs are key in setting the path for further developments of research in the animal sciences field: as gender actions are essential parts of EC funded projects, to merge EADGENE and SABRE efforts is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge with relevance at a sociological level in animal sciences sector.