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 Université (France) - coordinator
- La Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)
- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
South Mediterranean region :
- Algeria
- Constantine 3 Salah Boubnider University
- Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University, Mostaganem (France)
- 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 the establishments
Setting up training courses on :
- Gender and leadership
- Recruitment and promotion without gender stereotypes
- Awareness-raising actions within the establishments
Videos
Discover the speeches by Isabelle Régner, Vice-President of Equality between Women and Men and the Fight against Discrimination at Aix-Marseille University and project coordinator, and Sélim Mekdessi, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Lebanese University and WE4LEAD project co-sponsor.
Watch the speeches by the presidents and rectors of the WE4LEAD partner universities and RESUFF, an associate partner, in the joint video produced to mark the launch of the project.
Find out more:
A look back at the launch of the WE4LEAD project:
Project coordinator:
- Isabelle Régner, Vice-President for gender equality and anti-discrimination
Coordinator:
- Aix-Marseille Université (France)
Co-sponsors (project management):
- Lebanese University (Lebanon)