ACT on Career Advancement

Gender equality in scientific or research careers refers to equal presence and representation of women and men in all career stages. This means mitigating the effects of gender bias, removing gender-related institutional barriers, fostering a gender-inclusive organisational culture, and gender-sensitive policies for recruitment, retention, and advancement (Palmén et al., 2019).
With the launch of Horizon Europe, the European Commission has again prioritized gender equality in careers in the European Research and Higher Education Areas. The expectation is that R&I/HE institutions develop and maintain plans to promote gender equality in careers, including data monitoring, bias mitigation, and combating sexual harassment. However, the structural change goal of abolishing gender-related institutional barriers for careers is not present in all EU countries equally (GENDERACTION, 2018a).