The Nordic region – a gender equality paradise?
Although the Nordic countries have been good about bringing more women into academic leadership positions, they are only at the EU level when it comes to the percentage of female professors.
Although the Nordic countries have been good about bringing more women into academic leadership positions, they are only at the EU level when it comes to the percentage of female professors.
The new white paper on research describes the lack of gender balance in the research sector, but its only recommendation for dealing with the problem is to ask the KIF Committee for advice. The ministry will get what it asks for.
This is the clear challenge from Managing Director Kari Nygaard. The Norwegian Institute for Air Research has achieved good results with this approach.
At the University of Bergen, Kuvvet Atakan and his team have made gender equality a key issue in their bid to win the rectorial election.
The Research Council of Norway is announcing the first call for proposals under its new Initiative on Gender Balance in Senior Positions and Research Management (BALANSE).
The research sector is in unanimous agreement that the Committee for Gender Balance in Research should continue. The committee’s concluding report shows that there remain large areas in need of attention.
The Gender Equality Award was presented for the sixth consecutive year on 15 January, and the winner of the NOK 2 million prize is the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
According to a new doctoral project, there is no difference in the leadership styles of men and women. In groups comprised of both genders, an androgynous leadership style was found to be the best for creating a climate for innovation.
It is pointless to start a search for female applicants one week before the application deadline. If you want to increase the number of women in a male-dominated field, you have to make long-term plans. This is according to Tor Grande, who recently stepped down as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
“We don’t discuss gender equality very much; after all, it’s an integral part of our job,” says Vice-Dean Helge Klungland of the Faculty of Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). “Nobody is hired or granted project funding here without gender equality being part of the process.”
This was the clear message from the CEO of the SINTEF Group, Unni Steinsmo, when she opened a conference on gender equality in the independent research institutes.
The better the gender balance, the more we benefit from the pool of researcher talent. This is the argument made by the independent research institutes for their own gender equality efforts. However, a new study shows that women are in short supply at the highest levels of research and in leadership positions within the sector.
The Norwegian Government will extend the term of the national committee that promotes gender equality. It is also proposing financial rewards for institutions that employ women in high-level positions in the male-dominated natural sciences.
What does it take to change the gender balance in the most male-dominated physical sciences? This is an issue that Jan Petter Hansen of the University of Bergen knows a lot about. Under his leadership, the percentage of women in the Department of Physics and Technology is finally on the rise.