GENDER EQUALITY A MINOR ISSUE AT THE UPV? FIRST STEPS TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING

On the one hand, there are signs of progress towards gender equality amongst top-level graduates with women representing 47% of them in the EU in 2012 [1]. But there are still important differences with respect to the disciplines studied. In fact, in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction women's representation remains low. On the other hand, in higher education the evolution of the proportion of women in academic grade-A positions between 2010 and 2013 confirms that they continue to be under-represented in top positions. Moreover, women have also been historically underrepresented at the head of these institutions. The European Commission showed a serious commitment with education more than a decade ago, defending the construction of a European citizenship model based on gender equality. Furthermore, with the aim of dismantling gendered hierarchies and establishing more democracy in higher education institutions, its 2012 report "Structural change in research institutions" included a comprehensive list of solutions such as making decision-making transparent and removing unconscious bias from practices. Yet, for these solutions to be carried out, certain basic conditions must exist. Since indirect gender discrimination is a subtle issue, institutions often fail to recognize the facts. Hence, a prerequisite for undertaking a structural change is becoming aware of the reality of the institution. Thus, first of all it is necessary to gather data by developing statistics and indicators, so that the situation of each institution becomes widely known and acknowledged. In Spain, traditionally, there has existed a low awareness about the importance of disaggregating data by gender in order to know the real situation of women. But data help to define, implement and evaluate policies. In fact, a real knowledge of the institutional environment is the basis for future changes. Previous studies have explored gender equality issues in different Spanish higher education institutions, but Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) has not been thoroughly explored yet. Hence, this paper describes in detail a research project that will be carried out at the UPV in 2016 with the purpose of supplying documentary evidence regarding gender differences in academics' careers. The main research question is to find out if gender equality is an essential goal in this institution and whether there exist a set of good practices necessary for a structural change.