Conceptual Framework - Gender Equality and Communities of Practice

The main aim of this conceptual framework is to identify how a Community of Practice (CoP) approach can advance gender equality through institutional change in the European Research Area by removing gender-related institutional barriers to research careers, tackling gender imbalances and gender bias in decision-making and integrating the gender dimension in education, research and innovation content. The first section looks at how a CoP can be developed within an institution to promote organisational change for a greater gender equality in these three gender equality priority areas. The second section considers how an inter-organisational CoP can promote institutional change, primarily through the sharing of best-practices and institutions working together in these three gender equality priority areas.The third section identifies how ACT can improve the competence and agency of CoPs by providing targeted support. The fourth section considers the scaling up of CoPs and how this could lead to GEP innovation. The fifth section considers the evaluation and critical success factors of CoPs identified in the literature.