Faculty Gender Equality Officers

In coordination with the Gender Equality Officer and her deputies, the Faculty Gender Equality Officers work towards the implementation of equality in their respective areas. They are each elected for a two-year term of office and, on behalf of the Gender Equality Officer, perform tasks and exercise participation rights, for example in committee work and in appointment and recruitment procedures. 

These include:

• To exercise the participation rights of the Gender Equality Officers in hiring and appointments (with the exception of the right to object).
• Participation (with advisory vote and right of motion) in the committees of the faculty. Exception: examination committees.
• Advisory participation in the preparation of GEDAP (Gender & Diversity Action Plans) in faculties and central institutions.
• Providing (initial) advice on the implementation of gender equality and the compatibility of work/study and family life.
• Supporting the faculty in planning and implementing offers and measures that promote equality.
• First point of contact and referral counseling in cases of gender discrimination and sexual harassment and assault.

Regular further training offers support the Faculty Gender Equality Officers in the performance of their duties. The "New in Office" ("Neu im Amt") workshop is usually offered annually and is aimed at newly elected Gender Equality Officers. In addition, demand-oriented events are offered on a wide variety of topics related to Equal Opportunity work.

Meetings of the Faculty Gender Equality Officers take place at least twice per semester, to which the Gender Equality Officer or her deputy invites. They support collegial exchange between the faculties and strengthen the flow of information between central and faculty equal opportunity work.

Faculty Gender Equality Officers have been installed at Goethe University for decades, and different models have emerged. The legal basis is the "Statutes on Womens' Representation at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University" (Satzung zu den Frauenvertretungen an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität) adopted in 1996. It stipulates in § 6 (1) that the womens' representation "should, as far as possible, include different status groups".

Model 1: The Gender Equality Officer. This form of equal opportunity representation consists of a maximum of three women: the Gender Equality Officer and her (up to) two deputies. The Gender Equality Officers represent the interests of women of all status groups: professors, academic staff, students and non-academic staff. Six faculties and two central units have chosen this model.

Model 2: The Equal Opportunities Council. In the Equal Opportunities Council, each status group is represented by a woman who also belongs to that status group. The Equal Opportunities Council consists of the four Representatives of the status groups and their (up to) two deputies, thus a maximum of 8 to 12 women, depending on the basic model in place.
In addition, there are also Equal Opportunities Councils at Goethe University, which are made up of Gender Equality Officers from the individual institutes of a department, or Gender Equality Officers who are responsible for individual status groups and are therefore not Gender Equality Officers in the true sense. There are currently Equal Opportunities Councils in ten faculties.

As a foundation university, Goethe University appoints its professors independently. The university's appointment statutes (Berufungssatzung - German version), the Central Gender Equality & Diversity Action Plan 2019-2024 (Aktionsplan Chancengleichheit - German version), a checklist for the implementation of appointment procedures, and the quality criteria of equality in appointment procedures (Qualitätskriterien von Gleichstellung in Berufungsverfahren - German version) jointly adopted by Hessian universities with the support of the Hessian Ministry of Science form the basis for transparent and speedy procedures - also - from an equality perspective. The Faculty Gender Equality  Officers and Councils are involved in all steps of the appointment procedure. The guide to active recruiting supports those responsible for the appointment process in scouting desirable candidates. This is supported by the obligatory documentation of potential applicants already in the request for the call for application. Faculties, supported by a fund, to invite female scientists of interest for the focus of the professorship to a lecture or a small symposium in the run-up to the call for applications. A further incentive for faculties to fill professorship positions with women is the increased funding (Sachausstattung) of €5,000 and €10,000 for the appointment of a woman to a W2 or W3 professorship.

Furthermore, there are additional formal regulations:

• at least two female scientists, one of them a female professor, should be represented on an appointment committee;
• in faculties where the proportion of female professors is below the targets, all female applicants who are formally qualified may be invited for interviews at the request of the Gender Equality Officer;
• family periods are to be positively evaluated in performance appraisals;
• the senate appoints a non-professorial senate rapporteur who receives all documents and attends all meetings, if possible.

With the introduction of its own tenure track procedure at the end of 2010, GU is one of the pioneers in this area in Germany. It gives young scientists the opportunity to prove themselves in a temporary position as a professor and, after the qualification phase and a positive evaluation of their work, to be appointed to a permanent professorship. Tenure-track professorships prove to be particularly suitable for the promotion of female scientists, as they offer an early entry into a professorship as well as a longer-term outlook. The latter is important so long as many women still have to take on the primary responsibility for balancing work and family.

The Gender Equality Officer must be involved not only in appointment procedures, but also in recruitment procedures for scientific and administrative-technical staff. In this context, the HGlG §17 emphasizes the right to early participation in the corresponding measures.

As a rule, the respective Gender Equality Officers of the faculties and central institutions exercise these rights and duties - on behalf of the  Gender Equality Officer. An exception to this is the exercise of the right of objection, which is reserved for the Gender Equality Officer (§ 7 of the statutes of the womens' representative bodies). The approval of the Gender Equality Officer must also be obtained for applications to fill positions without advertising them publicly.

The "Statement of the Faculty Gender Equality Officers" ("Stellungnahme der Fachbereichs-Gleichstellungsbeauftragten)- as a form is an integral part of every hiring application. In it, the Facutly Gender Equality Officers document their participation in the various phases of the selection process:

• Participation in the text of the advertisement (wording) and its publication (selection of media)
• Information on applications received
• Inspection of application documents prior to interviews/application for employment
• Invitation to interviews (form)
• Participation in job interviews

as well as giving their vote on the employment planned. 

This is an important decision-making basis for the Gender Equality Officer's approval of the hiring process.

Helpful material: 

• "Guide for gender-equitable hiring of research staff" (in German) by the University of Konstanz