Gold for MPA Gender Equality Plan

The MPG Commission »Quality Management of Max Planck Gender Equality Plans (GEP)« awarded the Gold label to MPA’s plan, for meeting  the Max Planck standards – comprehensiveness, institute-specific and sustainability – to an outstanding degree. The MPA presents an excellent gender equality strategy, which, among other things, impresses with a comprehensive inventory, a stringent, data-based selection of fields of action, goals and measures, and a comprehensive portfolio of measures.

According to the commission, all the components that make the GEP an effective monitoring tool for gender equality objectives and measures (status report, analysis, fields and objectives of action, measures, evaluation) are in place. The foreword by the Managing Director explains the institute's gender equality objectives and values in an appealing way and demonstrates commitment at the management level.

The status report contains a comprehensive set of quantitative and qualitative data that includes al-most all the predefined indicators for the gender equality situation at the institute, supplemented by some individually collected data (such as the proportion of women selected for the MPA postdoc fellowship and women from non-European countries). This provides a very good insight into the gender equality situation at the MPI. The effectiveness and take-up of the measures implemented to date is evaluated on an ongoing basis and the results are used as a basis for formulating the new set of measures – an important foundation for making the gender equality strategy more effective in the long term.

The objectives are ambitious and forward-looking when measured against the status quo. The portfolio of measures is comprehensive and very promising. The fact that it includes both cultural measures as well as structural measures promises tangible improvements in the gender equality situation at the institute.

Objectives already achieved, such as the introduction of a transparent and standardised selection procedure for the MPA PD scholarship and the significant increase in the proportion of women at the postdoc and doctoral level and in the science support sector, promise further gender equality successes.

So, let’s try to make sure we also get a gold medal for implementing the plan!