Organizing intersectional equality policymaking in R&I: Facilitators, barriers, and case insights

This Third Working Paper of the Knowledge and Support Hub 3 (KSH3) on Intersectionality seeks to bridge INSPIRE’s empirical research and everyday practices of actors advancing institutional change towards intersectional equality in Research & Innovation (R&I), with a specific focus on Higher Education & Research (HE&R) organizations. Drawing on in-depth case studies and a participatory knowledge exchange event, this paper offers both case insights and practical insights of, and for, actors striving to embed intersectionality into their Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) and/or Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies. This paper follows the previous two working papers of KSH3 on Translating ambitions of R&I intersectional equality policies and Cultivating intersectional equality policies and practices in R&I.

This working paper has two interrelated aims. First, it provides a brief summary of the multiple case study on intersectional equality policy-making across nine HE&R organizations. This summary is based on our report D3.5 (authors: UHasselt; contributors:  ZRC-SAZU, Radboud University, Fraunhofer ISI and the Open University of Catalunya). This summary underscores the context-specificity of intersectional equality policies and practices, and discusses which political strategies institutional actors can adopt to translate intersectionality into the design, implementation and governance of organizational intersectional equality policies. By adopting an open understanding of intersectionality as (1) overcoming siloed, single-axis approaches and (2) tackling power imbalances, the analysis of the cases allowed us to identify multiple factors facilitating and hampering the intersectional equality policy-making process - in terms of policy design, governance and implementation.

Second, the paper discusses the outcomes of a participatory and co-creative knowledge exchange event that built on the factors identified in the case studies. This event involved two breakout room sessions in which participants evaluated the identified facilitating and hampering factors and reflected on how they integrate an intersectional perspective in their own institutional contexts. This approach not only validated the research insights but also generated insights of the different political strategies institutional actors use that work on intersectionality in practice, which can be useful for academics and policy actors in similar positions to draw from.

The paper ends with reflections from the KSH3 experts (Ashlee Christoffersen (York University), Barbara De Micheli (Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini), Bruna Cristina Jaquetto Pereira (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and Irina Lungu (Technical University of Iasi)) and the KSH3 Communities of Practice (Intersectionality4Change, WISE CoP and Open EU). Their contributions enrich the paper’s aims with their expertise on institutional change towards intersectional equality, beyond the INSPIRE project. This iterative feedback process showcases the importance of mutual learning and shared knowledge production.