Gender Equality Commission
The Commission on Future, Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of the Chamber of Deputies deemed it necessary to know the opinion of the Council of Rectors, in relation to the statements made by representatives of the Network of Researchers Association (REDi) last October, who expressed that in universities there would be discrimination on the grounds of gender when granting sponsorships to apply for competitive funds.
Speaking on behalf of CRUCH, Rector Fernanda Kri stated that “regarding the claim that universities are not sponsoring women, that they are discriminating, we verified it (…), and I must clearly state that there is no complaint or report regarding a lack of sponsorship for female academics to apply for research projects.”.
With the purpose of publicizing the positions of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) regarding the bill that “Establishes gender parity in the awarding of research projects and granting of scholarships in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)”, the rector in charge of the Gender Equality Commission, Fernanda Kri, participated in the session of the Commission on Future, Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of the Chamber of Deputies, on Wednesday, December 13.
The bill, which was introduced to the Chamber of Deputies in early August 2022 for its first constitutional review, received amendments from the Executive Branch in early January 2023. After reviewing the amendments and subsequent debate, the bill was approved in general in May of this year. Later, during its passage through the Lower House, representatives of the Network of Women Researchers Association (REDi) indicated last October that universities were discriminating based on gender when awarding the necessary sponsorships for funding applications. Deputy Luis Sánchez Ossa, of the Republican Party, considered it serious that “arbitrary discrimination exists in universities, many of them public,” and deemed it necessary to invite the Council of Rectors to provide their opinion on the matter.
In this context, Rector Kri first referred to the history of the CRUCH Gender Equality Commission and the progress made in universities regarding gender equality since its inception. She then addressed the existing gaps and how they are being tackled. Finally, she clarified that there is no record of arbitrary discrimination in the sponsorship of women for competitive funding opportunities among the 30 CRUCH universities.
“Specifically, regarding the claim that universities are not sponsoring women, that they are discriminating against them, we verified it (...), and I must clearly state that there are no complaints or reports concerning a lack of sponsorship for female academics applying for research projects,” said Fernanda Kri. She added, “I haven't seen any instances of a female academic being denied sponsorship simply because she is a woman when applying for research funding. At least not in the universities that make up the Council of Rectors; I can't comment on the others because I'm not familiar with them.”.
On the other hand, she clarified that "I am not saying that we do not have many pending gender issues, because, indeed, we have fewer women than men being awarded research projects, but this is because we have fewer women applying.".
Regarding the bill, she stated that "we believe that this type of affirmative action mechanism will undoubtedly help to reduce the gender gaps that exist in institutions.".
See presentation by Rector Fernanda Kri (from minute 1:02:35).
Parity
Rector Kri commented that “having parity in competitions is an affirmative action mechanism that will help, but it won't solve the structural problem, because the structural problem stems from the fact that, in some disciplines, we have few female students at the undergraduate level. Then, few students in those disciplines at the postgraduate level, and therefore, fewer female academics. So we have fewer women submitting research projects.”.
She also revealed that there are structural issues in universities regarding "hierarchy mechanisms and academic promotion that lack a gender perspective," and highlighted that in this regard there has been some progress in the last year, both from the National Research and Development Agency (ANID) and from within the universities "to be able to grant maternity leave to women so they can advance in rank.".
On the other hand, she explained that the committees that decide on projects, both within institutions and at the level of public funds, are composed of men in many disciplines, “and even if we have the best intentions, there are implicit biases and gender stereotypes. That is also structural and cultural and will take longer to change,” she emphasized.
In this scenario, universities “are working on incorporating these gender approaches into their ranking processes and internal competitive funding. Universities are also trying to achieve parity on their committees, sometimes with difficulty, because there are few female academics in some areas,” she commented.
The rector also emphasized that the CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities) and its Gender Equality Commission “have been working on this for a long time, and it is a constant concern.” She further noted that gender equality is included in the new university accreditation criteria (criterion 7), and therefore “all universities are paying close attention.”.
Advances in CRUCH universities
In her presentation, Rector Kri noted that the CRUCH Gender Equality Commission was created in 2018 by the plenary of rectors and that since then it has promoted lines of action that have generated significant changes in universities.
Initially, the commission defined an agenda with 7 proposals, among which was the need to carry out a diagnosis and have gender units, "long before the law required it," notes the rector.
It details that subsequently “policies and plans for gender equality begin to be formulated, and policies for prevention, care and punishment are established to eradicate gender violence.”.
When Law 21.369, which regulates harassment, violence and gender discrimination in higher education institutions, came into effect in 2021, universities incorporated prevention and sanction models.
The rector explained that, while “many of the CRUCH universities had already made progress in this, the law now mandates it, ensures it, and establishes it as an accreditation criterion. Therefore, the institutions that had not yet implemented it moved forward in creating these specialized units (...); this is now fully implemented.”.
The CRUCH commission is currently made up of Gender Directors from the 30 universities.
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