Actions towards gender-balanced recruitment
Goal 3 of the University of Warsaw Gender Equality Plan
The University of Warsaw is conducting systematic efforts to promote gender-balanced recruitment in education, scientific development, and employment. Their goal is to counteract persistent gender stereotypes in science, more fully utilize academic potential, and strengthen diversity as a factor in research quality and innovation.
Goal 3 of the Gender Equality Plan – Actions for gender-balanced recruitment of staff and doctoral schools. Talent acquisition, taking into account gender underrepresentation in specific fields of science – focuses on activities that foster more balanced gender representation in recruitment, particularly in areas where there is persistent underrepresentation of one gender. This applies to both traditionally masculinized and feminized fields.
The University of Warsaw believes that a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and career paths promotes the quality of research and teaching, while simultaneously reducing the negative effects of gender segregation, such as the pay gap and underutilization of human capital. It seeks to oppose discrimination in science and the labor market, as well as an education system in which women and men are encouraged to pursue studies in “typically female” and “typically male” fields, while discouraging interests not stereotypically associated with gender. It points out that greater diversity within teams can contribute to better and more effective scientific development, while maintaining stereotypical associations between gender and scientific interests is detrimental to the development of science.
The actions presented in the Gender Equality Plan for the University of Warsaw aim to counteract the stereotypical assignment of gender to scientific fields, so as to strengthen the university’s scientific position and remove obstacles to the individual development of those working and studying at the University.
Main lines of action
The following actions are being implemented under Goal 3:
- implementing good recruitment practices, including transparent evaluation criteria, clear competition rules, and standardized interview forms and scripts;
- information and promotional activities encouraging women to pursue education and academic careers in areas of gender underrepresentation, using equal language and visual communication;
In certain fields, particularly those characterized by masculinity, such as the sciences, efforts have been underway to encourage women to pursue higher education. Examples include the “Girls to Technical Universities” campaign, well-known in Poland, scholarship competitions at the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw for female students working in STEM fields, the Women in Tech Summit, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and various international initiatives under the banner of “Women in STEM.“
- actively reaching out to the broadest and most diverse group of potential candidates with information about recruitment;
- recommending the selection of a candidate from the underrepresented sex in situations of identical qualifications, based on clear procedures and ensuring transparency;
- striving for a balanced composition of selection committees, which helps reduce unconscious bias;
- monitoring recruitment and staffing data in collaboration with the University of Warsaw Equality Observatory, taking into account the specifics of each discipline;
- efforts to promote salary transparency, including regular analysis of the gender pay gap.