Gender Consulting

Equality instruments are as individual and diverse as the needs of the university’s schools and institutes, meaning that equal opportunity measures can only be effective when adapted to the specific equality situations of each disciplinary culture. The careers of FLINTA* (German acronym that stands for all genders facing structural discrimination in society) individuals are therefore significantly shaped by the structural conditions specific to each field; natural scientists, for example, encounter different structural conditions, opportunities, and barriers compared to those in the humanities. These differences typically manifest not only between different disciplinary cultures but sometimes also within individual subject areas.

The Equal Opportunity Representative therefore offers the schools the following support options:

• Advising the schools with regard to the development of equality measures
• Support in the implementation of subject-specific gender equality strategies and measures
• Support in the creation of interdisciplinary synergies, particularly in the STEM field
• Organization of workshops and conferences to enhance professional development in equality topics, such as unconscious bias, homosocial cooptation in hiring processes, and development of concrete measures

This support is available to all school members, regardless of status group.

The promotion of equal opportunity, diversity and social equity is not only a high priority at the university, external funding bodies are also attaching increasing importance to these issues. For example, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has established the "equality of men and women in academia" in Section 1 of its  statutes. In addition to supporting research, many funding institutions aim to achieve gender parity within academia. As a result, the equality status of the applying institution is becoming an increasingly influential factor in the assessment of funding applications. Departments with strong equality metrics and/or effective equality concepts and measures often have better chances of securing funding.

To meet the gender equality requirements of the funding bodies, the central Equal Opportunity Representative offers all university members support in drafting funding applications. This support is data-based (Equality Controlling) and includes suggestions for effective equality measures. Additionally, the Equal Opportunity Representative provides assistance with any subsequent site visits that may be required. Please reach out to the central Equal Opportunity Representative well in advance of submitting your application.

Notably, some funding bodies offer additional budgets specifically for equality measures. In these cases, the central Equal Opportunity Representative assists applicants in identifying equality needs and developing specific measures for the meaningful use of allocated equality funds.

By acquiring its own  third-party funding as part of the "Professorinnen-Programm (I-IV)", a joint initiative of the federal government and the federal states to increase the numbers of female professors at German universities,  Osnabrück University has succeeded in establishing a gender and diversity controlling system. The aim is, among other things, to provide data for self-retrieval, which is required by members of the university to apply for third-party funding or to design target group-specific equality offers. Please contact  Equality Controlling.

On the Intranet you will find  further information on third-party funding applications.

The underrepresentation of women is also evident within the university’s committees and academic leadership positions. For example, the university-wide percentage of female professors is just under 30%. The university has maintained this percentage for several years, which is still above the national average. Furthermore, it was only on October 1, 2019, that Prof.ⁱⁿ Dr.ⁱⁿ Susanne Menzel-Riedl became the first woman to lead the university.

One reason for this underrepresentation, in addition to still-existing structural disadvantages, is the associated burden of multiple responsibilities often faced by female academics. In fields where there are already significantly fewer women, they are disproportionately tasked with roles in academic self-governance to ensure compliance with certain legal requirements for balanced gender representation, such as in appointment committees. Consequently, the work of academic self-governance is distributed among fewer women, given their proportional underrepresentation, compared to men. This demonstrates that, while legal requirements for female representation in committees are important for equality policy, they can also lead to an increased workload for female academics.

The university has addressed the representation of women on university committees as part of the qualitative reports on the DFG's research-oriented gender equality standards and in all applications for the federal and state "Professorinnen-Programm", which aims to increase the numbers of female professors at German universities. Although the measures taken by the university to recruit women for committees and management positions have had a positive effect in recent years, there is still a clear difference in representation in some committees. Specific targets for the representation of female academics in university committees can be found in the  current equality policy papers.

The central Equal Opportunity Representative advises the university management, committees, schools and interested FLINTA* (German acronym that stands for all genders facing structural discrimination in society) on the possibilities of committee participation and possible individual measures for taking on a committee and leadership position.

FLINTA* of all status groups who would like to stand for election to the Senate or other committees can contact their  Dean's Office or  Department 4. In addition, Department 4 has compiled  all information on the election.

By getting involved in university committees, FLINTA* can exert their influence, help shape university structures and promote cultural change. The Equal Opportunity Representatives therefore offer advice and support. For further information, please contact the central Equal Opportunity Representative.

In addition to the structural services and programs of the Equal Opportunity Office, Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting and Annkatrin Kalas offer individual career advice for female academics in the qualification phase and female professors. The aim is to work with you to find the right path for you, at the end of which you may well decide against an academic career.

In addition to personal advice, the university offers various support and mentoring programs at different points:

• the  Equal Opportunity Office coordinates the  empowHer program for students
• the PhD/Postdoc Career Center ( ZePrOs) offers a mentoring program for  female doctoral students
• the  mentoring program for postdocs and W1 professors is also located at ZePrOs

In cooperation with Human Resources and Organizational Development, the Equal Opportunity Representative provides the following services

•  Onboarding Program for newly appointed female professors
•  EmpowHer Coaching and Workshop Program for female professors and managers from the university administration

Gender equality is playing an increasingly important role in research and teaching and is being taken into account more and more as a cross-cutting factor. The staff at the Equal Opportunity Office is available to answer questions and comments on this topic and is actively working on expanding their range of services.

 University Didactics, which is part of VirtUOS - Center for Digital Teaching, Campus Management and University Didactics, offers a diverse program on the topic of teaching. In cooperation with University Didactics, we initiate and design events and offers on the topic of gender in teaching, which are included as cross-cutting topics in the established programs.

In addition to VirtUOS, the " Gender Studies Research Center" is the place where gender and diversity topics are discussed and established in research and teaching. If you would like to be part of the Gender Studies Research Center yourself, you can become a member. Please contact the research center directly.

An overview of the gender distribution with regard to third-party funding is compiled by the  Equality Controlling.

Reports from the central Equal Opportunity Representative

The central Equal Opportunity Representative reports on gender equality work at Osnabrück University in various formats.

• The  Concept for Parity (2023) (PDF, 5.21 MB) and the  Gender Equality Future Concept (2018) (PDF, 8.09 MB): In these concepts you will find data-based information on the current status of the university from an equality policy perspective. They also provide an outlook on the future and the university's gender equality goals.
•  Anniversary book (2018) (PDF, 2.30 MB): The anniversary book was created to mark Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting's 11 years in office as the university's central Equal Opportunity Representative. Here you will gain insights into the work of the Equal Opportunity Representative and the Equal Opportunity Office from Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting herself as well as from the staff of the Equal Opportunitiy Office, equal opportunity actors at the university and other companions.

External newsletters, rankings & data sources

•  CEWS Gender Equality Ranking: Every two years, the CEWS publishes a ranking of German universities in terms of gender equality based on data from the Federal Statistical Office.
•  German Women's Council: The German Women's Council is an umbrella organization of around 60 nationally active women's organizations and the largest women's and gender equality policy advocacy group in Germany.
•  GWK: The Joint Science Conference is the organization in which the federal and state governments jointly make priorities for science and research a reality. Within the framework of the GWK, they negotiate and decide on joint programs for science funding. The members of the GWK are the science ministers and the finance ministers of the federal and state governments. The GWK regularly publishes data on equal opportunities in science and research at universities and non-university research institutions.
•  DFG: The German Research Foundation publishes a report on equal opportunities monitoring at the end of the first quarter of each year.