First annual seminar in the GEAR:DK network
In the spring of 2017, the network was constituted with the purpose of strengthening the gender equality endeavors broadly across the Danish universities. In June, the network´s first annual seminar took place in Frederica.
The event was generally attended by all the Danish universities and by the Ministry of Education and Science; only the Technical University of Science and the IT University of Copenhagen were not among the participants on the two-day seminar.
Assistant professor from Aarhus University Mathias Wullum Nielsen gave a preliminary presentation based on his experiences from working with his Ph.D.-thesis “New and Persistent Gender Equality Challenges in Academia”. Afterwards, a workshop on unconscious bias was facilitated by SDU´s Gender Equality Team, GET. This workshop focused on what practitioners can do when working with unconscious bias. Next, GET facilitated a workshop with the headline “Beliefs – do you believe, that the work for gender equality is making a difference?”. Here participants had a chance to voice their personal beliefs concerning what really has an effect in the equality work.
On the 2nd day of the seminar, Copenhagen Business School facilitated a workshop focused on recruitment in a gender equality perspective. Following, Elisabeth Rasmussen gave a presentation based on her experiences from her master thesis on barriers for women in the research sector. The seminar also encouraged reflection on experiences and challenges with the gender equality work across the universities.
There was a wide consensus that the seminar enhanced opportunities for cooperation´s across the institutions, and wide support for the seminar becoming a permanent platform for meetings once a year, where experiences can be shared and where gender equality endeavors can seek inspiration and qualification.