Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Improving gender equity in academia depends on the workplace environment

Learn about the leaky-pipeline and scissors effect problems

Familiarize yourself with local initiatives addressing the problems, like equity committees

Foster discussions and workshops about biases and gender inequity

Spread information about local initiatives

Nominate and vote women for leadership positions

Foster inclusivity criteria in hiring processes

Attend unconscious bias workshops

Quantify gender bias among authors and author roles in your own manuscripts

Critically reflect on your own biases

Discuss biases with colleagues

Invite more women peers to collaborate

Suggest/ create a code of conduct” for your own group

Calculate the proportion of women in the institution, especially in leadership positions

Become informed about regulations to handle discrimination and harassment complaints

Adopt an active by-stander behavior

Demand transparency in handling discrimination/ harassment complaints

Adopt non-discriminatory language and practices

Intervene or report cases of discrimination/ harassment

About infrastructure, and financial and human resources available to employees

On staff productivity (funding, publication, career stage, career progression) in relation to the resources available to them

Make gender-disaggregated data available for staff on intranet or internet portals

Implement mandatory workshops about unconscious bias for employees

Implement inclusive criteria for hiring women and adopt alternative metrics to evaluate their performance

(Re-)distribute resources with equity as the guiding criteria

Create periodic anonymous surveys for collecting data about discrimination/ harassment

Standardize the way data about discrimination/ harassment is collected at different sources, like departments and research groups

Inform staff about the due process for dealing with discrimination/harassment complaints

Report the outcomes of the due process (i.e., number of complaints, type of outcome) without disclosing identities of victims

Establish a system of “checks and balances” to prevent power structures from interfering with the due process dealing with discrimination/ harassment

Implement a code of conduct establishing a clear and time-bound process in cases of discrimination/ harassment; preferably written together with people who are vulnerable to misconduct

Critically evaluate what has been implemented and achieved

Gain inspiration from successful initiatives

Set up and publicize action plans with clear goals and milestones

Specify a timeframe for evaluation and revisions of plans

Devote human and financial resources to implement and review the plans periodically

Reward departments who achieve the goals, and demand adaptation/ explanation from those who do not

Compile and harmonize gender-disaggregated data at the federal and national level, leveraging the data already collected by institutions and international organizations

Identify institutions and research fields in which actions towards equity are required

Create guidelines for data collection and report, with standardized terminology of career positions

Demand annual reports from institutions containing gender-disaggregated data

Demand institutions to create plans and policies for gender equity

Mandate data sharing by institutions

Critically assess existing policies, including evaluation and recommendations by experts

Assess how institutions and countries are performing in comparison to international guidelines for gender equity

Create plans for the development and implementation of regulations to deal with gender inequity

Establish a “reputation rank” for universities and institutions, ranking them regarding their support for women and equity initiatives

Create legal security for women in science, for example, paid maternity leave

Create support initiatives targeted to keep women in science, for example providing child-care spaces and allowing working flexibility to accommodate family-care duties

Gather gender disaggregated data on grant awardees, preferably by research fields and institutions

Inspect for biases in grant awards, including the type and amount of grants

Publicize the number of grant applicants/nominees and awardees by gender and knowledge field

Disclose criteria used for grant awards, especially those preventing/ promoting gender equity

Constrain awarding of grants to the success of institutions to implement gender equity measures

Create awards for gender equity initiatives