Promoting diversity

MU implements a variety of measures to promote gender equality as part of the University's strategic commitment to the principles of transparency, equality and accountability, while balancing the work and personal lives of all its employees and students. MU fulfils this commitment at the level of individual faculties and institutes and through the activities of the University as a whole.

The framework for the development and implementation of effective measures to achieve the goals in the priority areas of gender equality at MU and within MU units is contained in the MU Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024. The measures of the MU Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024 are proposed on the basis of the results and recommendations of gender audits conducted by MU units in the period 03-07/2021 (the summary report of the gender audit at FI is available here). These findings were supported by content analysis of documents, analysis of statistical data, results from questionnaire surveys, group discussions with selected groups of people, individual and group interviews.

The priority areas of the MU Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024 are:

1. Transforming the internal culture of the organisation
2. Gender balance in leadership and decision-making
3. Combining work and parenthood
4. Recruitment, selection and promotion
5. Measures against sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence
6. Integrating the gender dimension into the content of research and innovation
7. Collection and monitoring of gender-differentiated data
8. Allocation of human and financial resources to address gender equality issues

FI webinar on the growing role of diversity in IT

Vice-Chair of EUGAIN Network, co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Czechitas

Introduction to the webinar: In a world that is increasingly driven by technology, digital innovation and creativity can hardly be fully exploited if only a small part of the population creates it. In this context, the question often arises - why do girls choose particular interests, study programmes and careers as an alternative to computer science or information technology? What are the motivators and benefits of these alternatives that IT lacks? Our webinar focuses on the growing role of diversity in IT, including some findings from recent studies on the topic. We'll discuss effective strategies for making IT more inclusive and open to diverse talent. And we'll share lessons learned from engaging more girls in IT, including insights and strategies specifically related to academia.

Webinar recording

The webinar also includes this presentation.

Key takeaways:

• The importance of diversity is growing in terms of
  • Talents and cognitive styles
  • Connecting disciplines
• We cannot afford to lose talented people
  • Pressure on the technology workforce shortage will continue to grow
  • Women are a great reservoir of talent for tech in the Czech Republic
  • We often miss talented people because we lack their talents
• Barriers and factors mentioned in the webinar
  • Critical mass and sense of belonging
  • Stereotypes and false beliefs about the underrepresentation of women in computing
  • Differences in self-esteem and perfectionism
  • Faulty meritocracy and valuing of different talents
  • Differences in talent/cognitive styles correlated with gender
  • Unconscious biases and their relation to decision making
  • Challenges in achieving diversity

Resources:

• Best Practices in Supporting Women in Informatics Departments across Europe
• Lagesen, Vivian Anette, Ivar Pettersen, and Line Berg. "Inclusion of women to ICT engineering-lessons learned." European Journal of Engineering Education 47.3 (2022): 467-482.
• Happe, Lucia, and Barbora Buhnova. "Frustrations steering women away from software engineering." IEEE Software 39.4 (2021): 63-69.

Articles

Webinar on the gender dimension in research

On October 4, 2023, the NCC will host a webinar on the gender dimension in research. The online workshop by Professor Stefanie Lemke from BOKU Vienna, entitled Integrating gender in food systems research - concepts, approaches and experiences from the field, is part of the NKC's educational activities on gender and science. The workshop is intended for the professional public and will be held in English.

More information and registration for the webinar can be found HERE.

European Diversity Month

Promoting diversity and creating inclusive workplaces is a long-term challenge. The European Diversity Month is in May and a number of activities take place during the month, such as the International Conference - European Diversity Day 2023: Building Bridges - Diversity, Sustainability and Partnership or the European Commission's Launch Conference with the participation of European Commissioner Helena Dalli - 28 April 2023.

For inspiration, ideas and themes for the European Diversity Month celebrations, you may find the concise and clear Guide, which can be downloaded below in English and English HERE.

Sexual harassment

One of the priority areas of the MU Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024 is measures against sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence. Detailed information on sexual harassment can be found here. The handling of cases of sexual harassment on MU campus is governed by the Methodology.

MU has established a network of contact persons who provide counselling to victims, witnesses and accused of sexual harassment, who are professionally trained in the issue and take an active interest in the topic. In terms of communication with the person involved in such a case, all contact persons have received tailor-made workshops from Konsent and are also familiar with the process of dealing with such a case within MU. The contact person will listen to you, introduce you to the assistance tools available within and outside MU, depending on your specific situation, and explain the MU resolution process to you. All of this could help you make an informed decision about how to handle your situation. If you wish to refer your case to MU, the contact person is ready to help you with this.

There are contact persons under the MU Counselling Centre, contact persons from individual faculties and a contact person from the Student Chamber of the Academic Senate. It is possible to choose the contact person you wish to contact, whether you are a student, staff member or employee. In addition to choosing whether to contact a female or male, you can also choose to use a contact from your faculty or a contact person outside of your faculty.