An Exemplary and Pioneering Approach to Gender Equality by Özyeğin University

Being the first EU project our University has launched in the field of social sciences which is lead by University of Bologna upon the call by the European Commission within the scope of the project HORIZON 2010 program, participant partners of the PLOTINA (“Promoting Gender Balance and Inclusion in Research, Innovation and Training”), gathered together at our campus on January 10-11, 2018.

The meeting was attended by the project representatives from the University of Bologna (Italy), University of Warwick (UK), Kemijski National Institute of Chemistry (Slovenia), Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Uni. of Lisbon (Portugal), and Mondragon University (Spain) as well as NGOs, including Zentrum für Soziale Innovation, Centro Studi Progetto Donna e Diversity, Elhuyar Consultancy and Elhuyar Communication. Participants discussed the recommended solutions to reduce the unbalanced gender representation in the recruitment, career development, and decision making processes in all occupational environments, including the academia. Each partner shared their self-tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) which they designed and developed considering their own local and organizational factors.

The overall objective of PLOTINA is to enable the development, implementation and assessment of self-tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) to unlock the full potential of individuals through the consideration of each Research Performing Organization’s original identity and their gain in value.

To this end, the project aims to develop new tools to contribute to the development of both female and male researchers in order to help them overcome career challenges and prevent the waste of talent, implement new strategies to increase the gender balance in decision making processes, and ensure diversification of views and methodologies by including the gender/sex parameters in research and teaching. With these three goals, PLOTINA is also strongly aligned with the “Sustainable Development Forum” program which was established jointly by our University and Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) in order to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The PLOTINA project entails the development of a range of resources, including self-assessment methods and tools, a best-practice library, and a database. These resources will be made available to wider reach to inspire other European universities and organizations to develop and implement their own Gender Equality Plans.

A PLOTINA supervisor of our University, Post Doctorate Researcher Mr Serhat Uyurkulak says: “The PLOTINA (Promoting gender balance and inclusion in research, innovation and training) project was developed in response to the European Commission’s call under the Horizon 2020 program. The overall objective of the project is to prevent the waste of talent and know-how of women researchers, increase the diversification of different views and methodologies, and foster excellence and the social and economic value of innovations. Despite the increase in the number of female researchers in Turkey, and the fact that they mainly tend to work in the Universities, few of them actually have an equal opportunity to make a contribution and enjoy the benefits of a scientific career. Alongside the phenomenon of vertical segregation, also known as the "glass ceiling", widespread horizontal segregation leads the majority of females to focus on certain types of occupations or academic positions. In general, the higher the administrative or academic position in the hierarchy, the lower the percentage of women. This lack of gender balance potentially limits the international competitiveness of research and the expression of the maximum of excellence.

Therefore, PLOTINA aims to enable the development, implementation, dissemination, and assessment of novel Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). These plans will be designed in order to reduce the unbalanced gender representation in the recruitment, career development, and decision making processes in all of the occupational environments, including the academia. Each partner will design and develop self-tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) which best suit their own situations based on local and organizational factors.

The success of the implementations will be assessed according to the sustainable cultural and organizational changes they will bring about for our institutions. Successful ideas will be shared with the public so that they can set examples for other institutions and countries.

Moreover, the second goal of PLOTINA is to increase gender awareness in the scientific research practice. The inclusion of gender/sex dimensions in all types of studies, from basic research on mental mechanisms to the development of consumer goods, will not only broaden our understanding of interesting phenomena, but also motivate students and researchers to view their topic of study with a new perspective, i.e. gender. In short, PLOTINA will serve to establish more gender equality in the academia, and promote the practice of gender aware science.”