Equal opportunities for all is not just a basic human right, it is a way to achieve excellence for individuals, teams and organisations. The more diverse our teams and the fairer our approach to individuals, the more creatively and effectively we will work.
Gender Inequality
One of the fundamental social inequalities that remains is between men and women, including in the scientific and research environment. Compared to other EU countries, the Czech Republic has a significantly below-average representation of women in science and research. In 2018, the share of women was actually the lowest in the EU (Eurostat 2020).
Although there has been a steady increase in the representation of women among students, including in doctoral degree programmes, this trend is not reflected in their long-term representation among researchers and in leadership positions. Missing out on the potential of skilled women also means missing out on the considerable costs invested in their education and professional development.
Excellence and innovation potential positively correlate with gender equality.
Over the long term, research has highlighted various barriers that women face (prejudice, barriers associated with parenthood, higher levels of job insecurity, etc.) that lead to their more frequent abandonment of science. In the Czech research ecosystem, women leaving science means a loss of highly educated people, their expertise, creativity, perspectives, and life experience.This means that a significant portion of the educated population loses the opportunity to participate in learning about and shaping the world through research and innovation in which society as a whole lives.This fact may be negatively reflected not only in missed opportunities to improve the quality of life of society, but also in the failure to use all available resources of the knowledge economy (source: TACR).
However, this does not concern only women; the issue of reconciling career and personal life is important for everyone, regardless of gender (including the topics of parenthood and the sandwich generation); age discrimination and the discriminatory treatment of foreigners and sexual minorities are also problems.
For that reason, we want to create conditions at MENDELU that enable all people, regardless of their individual differences, to develop their full personal potential. We believe that the best way to promote equal opportunities and diversity is to integrate it unconditionally into all processes, activities, decisions, and programmes. The first step in fulfilling this vision is our Gender Equality Plan for the period 2022 - 2024.
Other Important documents
EU policy on Gender Equality in Research and Innovation