The Government is carrying out a review of gender equality in higher education, which is due to be completed later this year. The review will be carried out by a group of six national and international experts.

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, made the announcement today (March 15). He said the group “would assess progress since the first review of its kind in 2016 and make recommendations to ensure that gender equality is amplified in higher education institutions as they move into the future.”

He said the expert group would make “five to 10 high-level recommendations as to how, in their view, higher education institutions might enhance their equality policies and their implementation to support gender equality.”

The group will be chaired by the former secretary general of the Department of Social Protection, Niamh O’Donoghue.

“Diversity is a key strength of Irish higher education. Institutions which allow inequality to exist cannot perform to their full potential,” she said.

“The social and economic benefits of equality and diversity are undeniable. It is timely to consider how work on gender equality can be leveraged and diversified to ensure equality of opportunity for all staff,” O’Donoghue added.

O’Donoghue will be joined by five other experts: Dr Allison Kenneally, VP for equality, diversity and inclusion, Waterford Institute of Technology; Dr Karl Kitching, reader in education policy, University of Birmingham; Dr Marcela Linkova, head of the Centre for Gender and Science at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Dr Philip Owende, assistant head of academic affairs, TU Dublin; and Prof Anne Scott, a former VP for equality, diversity and inclusion, NUI Galway.

The group’s findings are expected to be published in late 2022. The final report will include an overview of gender equality in Irish higher education, focusing on what has worked well, what has not, and what the next steps should be.

The head of the Higher Education Authority’s (HEA) Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Dr Ross Woods, said the review would allow the HEA to “quantify progress towards gender equality in higher education” and make “evidence-based decisions” to maintain progress.

The HEA will run an online consultation open to all staff in higher education in Ireland as part of the review process.

“Our institutions have made significant advances in recent years, but this is a cultural problem that has by no means been fixed. As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is crucial that gender equality initiatives are continued and amplified,” Woods said.

The expert group will consult with higher education stakeholders including senior Higher Education Institutions, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, funders and relevant state agencies.

Despite a review of gender equality policies having not taken place since 2016, there has been efforts to improve outcomes for those working in the higher education sector.

Last March, an interactive ‘gender equality dashboard’ tool was introduced. It was developed by researchers at Maynooth University and showed data and visualisations on gender equality from higher education institutions.

Last month, the Irish Research Council’s gender equality strategy review was published. The review found there had been some improvements for women working as researchers in Ireland over the last decade in the area of gender equality.

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