Gender Equality Plans in Research Organisations and Higher Education Institutions as a Catalyst for Transformative and Sustainable Change

Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) play a pivotal role in shaping the European Union’s commitment to fostering sustainable structural change in Research organisations regarding gender equality. This article considers the dynamic evolution of the EU policy on GEPs, assesses the state of play with regards to GEPs following the requirements at EU level, and poses the question: What further can be done to deliver the transformative potential of GEPs, embed their sustainability and advance towards inclusiveness at greater speed? Drawing on the insights of feminist institutionalism, which highlights the relevance of informal practices as well as formal rules in shaping an organisational culture, the study considers 66 GEPs, supported by EU funding, to identify their progress towards advancing gender equality. It finds that the concentrated attention to addressing gender equality deficits in research organisations in these projects has had a positive impact. It finds evidence of incremental reform, or ‘layering’ as the dominant strategy for change, resulting in improvements in organisational policy, practices and culture. The article underscores the need for further reinforcement through inclusive gender equality for the trajectory towards gender equality in research organisations and higher education to be sustained. It makes policy recommendations arising from the analysis.