Vice-President for gender equality and the fight against discrimination

1. The missions of the Vice Presidency

• To propose a medium-term strategy aimed at an integrated policy in favor of equality, inclusion, and diversity, with actions of 1) awareness, information, and training, targeted according to the public (students, staff), 2) promotion of a culture of gender equality, and 3) awareness and communication in favor of the fight against all forms of discrimination.
• Propose measures to achieve equal treatment and opportunities for women and men in all aspects of their careers for staff, and a gender balance in all courses of study for students.
• To monitor the measures in place in terms of equal opportunities and the fight against discrimination.
• To propose indicators for monitoring the actions undertaken.

The Vice President is supported by a Steering Committee made up of staff, the Student Vice President and experts (from universities, institutions and associations). The CoPil contributes to the development and deployment of the various action plans within AMU's services and components.

A group of referents works specifically on the issue of equal treatment and opportunities for women and men, with the aim of identifying the specific problems in each sector, in order to be able to develop an appropriate action plan.

2. Actions

2.1- Device for the use of the first name and customary civility at AMU

In order to improve their reception and facilitate their access to university services (library, services and catering, etc.), AMU is committed to recognizing the right of transgender or intersex students whose procedures with the TGI have not been completed to request that their first name and/or customary title be taken into account in internal documents of the institution.

Information and access to devices HERE

2.2- Awareness and training activities

Throughout the year, awareness-raising, information and training activities and relaying of various international days (February 9 Women and Science, March 8 Women's Rights, end of March Education Week against Racism and Anti-Semitism, May 17 LGBTI Commitment Day, November 25 Violence against Women, etc.) and systematic relaying of national campaigns (MESRI, DILCRAH, State Secretariat, etc.).

See our news feed.

Some examples of training courses offered to staff and students

• Training in the fight against discrimination by the Camp des Milles Foundation (Labellisation Citoyenne as part of the EFHLD Commitment Student Bonus).
• Wendo workshops aimed at preventing and better equipping women against physical and verbal violence.
• Integration of legal and psychological training in the staff training plan to fight against harassment and violence, racism and anti-Semitism. (Registration on GEFORP).

2.3- New actions based on research results

Action plans to promote equality and diversity in higher education have proliferated over the past several years and have made a number of advances. However, inequalities remain among staff in terms of recruitment, promotion, access to the most prestigious positions, representation in the scientific disciplines known as STEM (Science, Technology, Computer Science, and Mathematics), but also among students in terms of access to certain Masters, Doctorate, and STEM fields from the Bachelor's degree. The EFHLD Vice-President of AMU proposes to turn to the results of scientific research which show that these inequalities are largely linked to stereotypes and implicit biases which are powerful automatisms, acquired over time, and present in most individuals, women and men [1-2].

Research has shown how these stereotypes can negatively influence students' performance and their choice of career path. [3-4]on the other hand, to generate subtle processes of discrimination by impacting the decisions of evaluators at the time of recruitment and promotion [5]. This research also informs us about the actions to be implemented and the conditions for their effectiveness. While awareness and communication campaigns, commitment charters and quotas are necessary actions, they are not sufficient to bring about in-depth change. The data [5-8] tell us thatit is necessary to propose, in addition, training that will 1) make people aware of the existence of these stereotypical biases, 2) explain how these biases work (often automatically because they are well anchored in long-term memory) and what the consequences are, and 3) propose strategies to better control these biases and thus reduce their impact.

The new methods of action proposed by the EFHLD Vice-President since April 2020 are therefore based on the results of this research. They are adapted to Selection Committees, research laboratories, and more generally to all personnel in charge of the evaluation of promotion and recruitment files. These actions will be subject to evaluation to assess their effectiveness.

References

1-Greenwald AG, McGhee DE, Schwarz JLK (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 74, 1464-1480. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.74.6.146
2-Nosek, B. A. et al. (2009). National differences in gender-science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 106, 10593-10597. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0809921106
3-Régner I, Smeding A, Gimmig D, Thinus-Blanc C, Monteil J.M., Huguet P. (2010). Individual differences in working memory moderate stereotype-threat effects. Psychol. Sci. 21, 1646-1648. doi:10.1177/0956797610386619
4-Schmader T, Johns M, Forbes C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychol. Rev. 115, 336-356. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.336
5-Régner I, Thinus-Blanc C, Netter A, Schmader T, Huguet P. (2019 ). Committees with implicit biases promote fewer women when they do not believe gender bias exists. Nat Hum Behav. 3(11):1171-1179. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0686-3
6-Devine PG, Forscher PS, Cox WTL, Kaatz A, Sheridan J, Carnes M. (2017). A Gender Bias Habit-Breaking Intervention Led to Increased Hiring of Female Faculty in STEMM Departments. J Exp Soc Psychol. 73:211-215. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2017.07.002
7-Moss-Racusin CA, Pietri ES, Hennes EP, Dovidio JF, Brescoll VL, Roussos G, Handelsman J. (2018). Reducing STEM gender bias with VIDS (video interventions for diversity in STEM). J Exp Psychol Appl. 24(2):236-260. doi: 10.1037/xap0000144
8-Stewart A, Valian V. (2018). An Inclusive Academy: Achieving Diversity and Excellence. MIT Press.