Equal opportunities and gender equality
The promotion of gender equality, which has long been one of the University’s strategic lines, has been integrated into the areas of the Charter of Sustainability Commitments in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which identifies it as one of the goals to be achieved for a more sustainable future (SDG 5 – Gender Equality).
The Gender Balance Sheet
The University of Padua was among the first in Italy to publish, in 2017, its first Gender Report, which was followed by an update in 2018 and a second full edition in 2020. Since 2019, the main indicators on the gender distribution of the university community are updated annually in a dedicated section of the Sustainability Report. Through this tool, the University analyses the trends and dynamics characterising women’s and men’s access and participation in academic life, and monitors the impacts of policies and actions.
Culture and training for gender equality
The dissemination of a culture of gender equality and equal opportunities is implemented through various actions. These include the promotion of an administrative and institutional language that is attentive to differences, to which the publication of specific guidelines and the organisation of training courses for staff have been dedicated. A wide range of annual appointments, reviews and events dedicated to debate, reflection and the celebration of anniversaries such as 8 March, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the International Day of Women and Girls in Science have also been consolidated.
In 2021, the general course‘Gender, knowledge and social justice’was inaugurated, open to women students and staff.
Initiatives and resources to support equal opportunities
The University has a network of organisms, services and institutions that work to combat discrimination, to ensure gender equality and equal opportunities, including through concrete support for the work-life balance of all members of the university community. The aim of these initiatives is to promote widespread wellbeing at work, with particular regard to the least protected categories, including young researchers. In this spirit, the “Milla Baldo Ceolin” was inaugurated in 2021, offering university staff 40 reserved and discounted places.
The Gender Equality Plan (GEP) 2022-2024
In February 2022 the University of Padua approved the Gender Equality Plan (GEP) 2022-2024, a programmatic document with a three-year horizon, which is part of the University’s commitment to the promotion of equal opportunities and gender equality.
The definition of the objectives and actions of the new GEP of the University of Padua follows the five priority areas of intervention identified by the European Commission: the balance between private life/work life and organizational culture, gender balance in top positions and decision-making bodies, gender equality in recruitment and career advancement, integration of the gender dimension in research and teaching programs and the fight against violence and discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.
Precisely in response to the objectives of the 2022-2024 GEP and the 2021-2023 PAP, in May 2022 the University of Padua approved the new guidelines for the management of the Alias Careers of male and female students at the University of Padua, with a view to procedural simplification and greater protection of transgender privacy.