Equality in Aalto University
We have come a long way
Equality in Finland Pioneer in gender equality, and is the first country in the world to give women both the right to vote and stand for election (1906). Female political participation, female president in 2000 and again in 2006; 10 of 19 ministers in the cabinet of Finland are female. Legislation tackling discrimination against women in employment have not managed to reduce the significant pay gaps caused by the strong segregation of the labour market. Women constitute 56% of university students. More women study subjects in the social and health-care sectors and in the humanities, art and education sectors. Only 22% of students studying engineering sciences are women 32% of students in mathematics and computer science are women - this is however significantly higher than in other OECD countries
World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2014 ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION AND OPPORTUNITY HEALTH AND SURVIVAL POLITICAL EMPOWER MENT EDUCATIONAL OVERALL ATTAINMENT Country Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Iceland 1 0.8594 7 0.8169 1 1.0000 128 0.9654 1 0.6554 Finland 2 0.8453 21 0.7859 1 1.0000 52 0.9789 2 0.6162 Norway 3 0.8374 2 0.8357 1 1.0000 98 0.9695 3 0.5444 Sweden 4 0.8165 15 0.7989 43 0.9974 100 0.9694 5 0.5005 Denmark 5 0.8025 12 0.8053 1 1.0000 65 0.9741 7 0.4306 Nicaragua 6 0.7894 95 0.6347 33 0.9996 1 0.9796 4 0.5439 Rwanda* 7 0.7854 25 0.7698 114 0.9289 118 0.9667 6 0.4762 Ireland 8 0.7850 28 0.7543 40 0.9979 67 0.9739 8 0.4140 Philippines 9 0.7814 24 0.7780 1 1.0000 1 0.9796 17 0.3682 Belgium 10 0.7809 27 0.7577 73 0.9921 52 0.9789 13 0.3948 Switzerland 11 0.7798 23 0.7797 72 0.9922 70 0.9737 16 0.3737 Germany 12 0.7780 34 0.7388 34 0.9995 67 0.9739 11 0.3998 New Zealand 13 0.7772 30 0.7517 1 1.0000 96 0.9698 14 0.3872 Netherlands 14 0.7730 51 0.7106 1 1.0000 94 0.9699 9 0.4116 4
Legistlation Act on Equality between Women and Men Duty for promoting equality purposefully and systematically on all authorities and employers as well as in education, teaching and research. Discrimination on grounds of pregnancy and family care responsibilities is prohibited. The employers with personnel of over 30 must draw up an equality plan every year and implement measures promoting equality. In official committees and councils the proportion of representatives of either sex should not be below 40%. The Constitution of 1999 enshrines the principle of gender equality 5
Career and family The labour market participation rate of women (72%) is almost as high as that of men (76.2%). Most women (83%), even mothers of small children, mainly work full time extensive system of public childcare and school meals the fertility rate (1.8 children per woman) is higher than the OECD average According to the Finnish Barometer (a report produced by Finnish Statistics), both men and women were supportive of the two-provider family model allowed by this policy The pay gap between men and women in Finland (20%) is, however, above the OECD average. more women work in the public sector and more men in the private sector, where wages differ considerably, but discrimination is the primary cause of the pay gap. Maternal leave 3 months, paternal leave 6 months full employment security Child care leave until youngest child is 3 years, part-time child care leave until youngest child turns 8. Temporary paternal leave when your child is sick 6
Aalto University We believe in Passion for exploration, because a good deal of curiosity does wonders. We believe in Freedom to be creative and critical, because without freedom, there is no true progress. We believe in Courage to influence and excel, because the world does not change unless there is someone to change it. We believe in Responsibility to accept, care and inspire, because the best ideas you will ever get will probably come from someone you don t yet know. We believe in Integrity, openness and equality, because no-one should be left behind. 7
Equality in Aalto University At Aalto we give prominence to the creation of a culture that values community and diversity. We believe that everyone at Aalto shares the responsibility to both act in accordance with our common values and promote equality. Our work on equality is guided by the principle of mainstreaming, by which we incorporate equality in all our actions. This roughly translates to small and tangible changes in actions rather than major drives. 8
Women in Aalto President Tuula Teeri One of the vice presidents (among 3) is female Head of Finance Head of HR Aalto University Board: 3 female members (7 all together) 1 of 6 deans 9
Aalto in Figures Total number of personnel: 4 985 (5 330) Professors: 382 (366) professors 19% 81% teaching personnel service personnel 32% 68% doctoral candidates 30% 30% 70% 70% 10
School of Science Facts and Figures SCI Departments Department of Applied Physics Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science Department of Computer Science and Engineering Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Department of Information and Computer Science Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis Department of Media Technology Separate institutes O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT Gender in SCI Network partner EIT ICT Labs 11 16 29 26 23 63 School of Science Students: 3 796 Personnel: 1 406 Professors: 118 89 84 professors teaching positions 71 74 77 posdoctoral researchers Doctoral Candidates Research assistant 37 Service organisation 11
Gender and Career Stage Assistant professors by gender 13 % Associate professors by gender 87% Professors by gender 10% 90% 12
Equality work in Aalto: More than Gender Equality Our shared goal is to have a good atmosphere for study and work at the university. Aalto University wants to offer a working environment in which employees and students of both genders, different tasks and different backgrounds are treated equally. The obligation to promote equality and equal treatment applies to all members of the university community. 13
Aalto EQU EQUALITY ACTION PLAN Focus areas 1. Activities of the Equality Committee (AaltoEQU) Relationship with AYY, schools and departments Integration with accessibility and other parallel work Different learning and working areas/ spaces 2. Data and statistics Gender scissors More qualitative data 3. Well-being of personnel and students & Aalto identity International Integration & Inclusion Codes of Conduct 4. Academic recruitment process and career paths incl. assessment 14
Equality coordinator and contact persons Monitor the equality situation and the progress of work related to values. Confidentially help in procedures involving further processes and, when necessary, guides people to those seeking solutions. Listen to people's wishes and proposals for development. The goal is to prevent possible problems in advance, and to intervene quickly when problems emerge. 15
SCI Equality Action Plan 2014: Work by Aalto EQU Action What Who When Implementation of the communication plan Separate communication plan to increase awareness on equality issues Dean, Communications and HR managers, contact person T1-T3 Identify guidelines and principles in dealing with difficult situations Sufficiency of instructions for academic staff, other personnel and students HR, Dean, Occupational Healthy, Student Services, SCI communication, contact person T1-T3 Support for implementation of best management practices at departments Update existing statistics, share good practices at departments as part of quality work Dean, HR manager, development manager, contact person T1-T3 Mainstreaming equality as part of quality work Equality point of view in preparing SCI handbook Development manager, contact person T1-T3 SCI training for management Enhance co-operation with HR, cases and challenges from participants HR manager and team T1 Accessibility of the bachelor s house Confirm free movement of students, visitors and staff Dean, Kinnunen, Raike T1-T3
SCI Equality Action Plan 2014: Data and Statistics Action What Who When Monitoring student survey results Follow up of SCI student wellbeing questionnaire implementation 2013, info to teachers Student Services, Psychology Service T1-T3 Interviews of degree program leaders Identifying challenges in different programs, monitoring plans for actions based on student questionnaire Contact person, degree program leaders T1-T3 SCITEC statistics Gathering and analyzing data on recent evaluations Student services T1-T3 Recruitment statistics Gathering and analyzing data on academic career path selection processes HR, contact person T1-T3 Create process for statistics follow-up Dean, HR, SCI, ELEC contact persons T3 Equality issues follow-up Confidential process follow-ups HR, contact person T3
SCI Equality Action Plan 2014: Well-being of personel and students Action What Who When SCI training for managers Enhance co-operation with HR, cases and challenges from participants HR manager and team T1 SCI colleague induction Overall induction for new tenure staff HR manager and team T1-T3 Regular department visits of the management team Focused discussions on actual topics with broad academic staff Dean, department heads T1-T3 Follow up of strengthening events A Celebration of Diversity in Mathematics and Physics outcomes and future Dean, head of the deparment, contact person T3 SCI-wellbeing group Diverse staff after SCI-spirit! HR manager and team T1-T3 Student Care and Support Ensure equal level of implementation in all candidate level programs Mari Knuuttila, Student Services, Elina Lehkonen, Jukka Parviainen, Killat T1-T3 Identify needs in support service Sufficiency of current services and their efficient accessibility through SCI communication Dean, HR manager, Helena Knuuttila, Sci Communication T1-T3 Identify best practices in orientation of new staff Follow-up of integration and support of service personel, working habits in multicultural environment HR, development manager, contact person T1-T3 Create process for well-being follow up Dean, HR, SCI and ELEC Contact persons T3 Tenure track vs lecturer track profiles Convincing roles and rules on both tracks Dean, HR, contact person T3
SCI Equality Action Plan 2014: Recruitement and assessment in career paths Action What Who When Identify applying of recruitment guidelines from Aalto level Recruitment statistics and other documents from equality perspective HR, Dean T3 Identify open position announcements Different practices at departments HR T3 Initiate tenure track committees Equality perspective HR T3 Strategic act in case of equally competent applicants In academic recruitments, where males have over 60 percent occupation, female applicants whose competence has been found to differ only slightly should be prioritized Dean, EQU, HR, HR Legal T1-T3 Plan for feedback gathering Plan for systematic feedback gathering from applicants/those being evaluated Dean, HR, contact person T3
Equality in Aalto: Tenure Track recruitments Choosing the right person for each position open at Aalto is an important decision affecting the operations of the entire working community. Recruitment must be based on strategy and the personnel plan Aalto University has established career systems for supporting the personal, professional and academic growth of its staff Aalto University has clearly defined and transparent recruitment processes that enable emphasizing the right aspects when recruiting to different types of positions in the various career systems We prefer open, competitive recruitment For academic positions, the recruitment processes are primarily of international scale In accordance with its Equality Plan, Aalto University has made a commitment to act as an equal-opportunity employer that makes its recruitment decisions on the basis of competence, skills and aptitude. We value diverse language skills in all our recruitments 20
Equality in recruitments All applicants must be treated equally; the process must contain the same elements and equal to all the candidates. The same information must be delivered to all the candidates. The decisions must be made based on the information that the candidates have supplied. All other data collection can only be made with the applicants approval. Both external experts and the departmental committee should consist of men and women. 21
Equality in recruitments 1) Consider equality and diversity when forming recruitment / nomination committee (Applicable only in recruitment processes where nomination committee is used) 2) Define the selection criteria and requirements for the position clearly 3) Reach potential candidates by a comprehensive but appropriate advertising 4) Consider equality and diversity at all stages of the recruitment process 5) Document the process carefully 6) Make an informed recruitment decision based on the selection criteria 7) Remember the importance of employee orientation, regular review process and career management support 8) Develop recruitment practices and improve your recruitment skills 22
Recruitment Statistics 100% Applicants by gender 100% Recruitments by gender 80% 80% 60% 60% 40% 40% 20% 20% 0% ARTS BIZ CHEM ENG SCI ELEC AALTO 0% ARTS BIZ CHEM ENG SCI ELEC AALTO 23