The WE4LEAD project (Women's Empowerment For LEADership and Equity in Higher Education Institutions ) is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) project which aims to increase women's access to the highest decision-making positions, in order to contribute to a fully inclusive governance and management of HEIs. It is part of a wider ambition to transform the governance of higher education institutions (HEIs) around the Mediterranean by spreading a culture of gender equality.
The project is being developed within the framework of the Téthys Consortium of Euro-Mediterranean Universities, created on January 28, 2000 by 22 universities around the Mediterranean as an extension of the Barcelona Process. Led by Aix-Marseille Université, the network currently comprises over 70 universities from 19 countries. It is a forum for cultural and scientific exchange, making a strong and lasting contribution to the construction of the Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education, Research and Innovation Area. All the universities involved in the WE4LEAD project are members of the Consortium.
Partner universities :
European Union :
- Aix-Marseille University (France) - coordinator
- La Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)
- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
Southern Mediterranean region :
- Algeria
- Constantine 3 Salah Boubnider University
- Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University, Mostaganem
- Lebanon
- Antonine University
- Lebanese University - co-sponsor
- Tunisia
- Tunis-el-Manar University
- University of Sousse
Associate partner: Réseau Francophone des Femmes Responsables dans l'Enseignement Supérieur et la Recherche (RESUFF)
Specific objectives
Five specific, measurable objectives have been set to increase the proportion of women in top decision-making positions in universities:
- Collection of gendered data, to measure the place of women within HEIs (decision-making positions).
- Increased understanding of gender inequality among university decision-makers, and commitment to addressing it.
- Establishment of an institutional framework promoting gender equality.
- Reinforcement of non-discriminatory evaluation and recruitment mechanisms.
- Increasing the visibility of sexual harassment and improving its management.
Main activities
The project includes
- Development of a gender equality plan
- The creation of parity units
- Creation of anti-harassment units
- The introduction of indicators/statistics to measure changes in establishments
Setting up training courses on :
- Gender and leadership
- Recruitment and promotion without gender stereotypes
- Awareness-raising actions within the establishments
Find out more:
Project coordinator :
- Isabelle Régner, Vice-President for gender equality and anti-discrimination
Co-sponsors (project management):
- Aix-Marseille University (France)
- Lebanese University (Lebanon)