[2019] BSE Aveiro by BESTorg

Lights, Camera, EducACTION

BSE Aveiro 2019 Aveiro, Portugal 23rd – 31st of August, 2019

Authors:

Antoniu Vulpe (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania) Beatriz Neiva (Univerity of Porto, Porto) Daniel García (Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain)

BSE Aveiro 2019

Contents 01. Preface 4 01.1 Acknowledgements 4 01.2 Local BEST Group Aveiro 4 01.3 Educational Involvement Department of BEST 5

02. Introduction 6 02.1 Board of European Students of Technology 02.2. BEST Symposia on Education 02.3. BEST Symposium on Education Aveiro 2019

6 6 7

02.3.1. Purpose 7 02.3.2. Schedule 7 02.3.3. Content Team 8 02.3.4. Participants 9

02.4. Methodology 10 02.4.1. Discussion group 10 02.4.2. World CafĂŠ 10 02.4.3. Brainstorming 10 02.4.4. SWOT analysis 10 02.4.5. Finger Rules 10 02.4.6. Role-play 11 02.4.7. Parking Lot 11

03. Sessions 12 03.1. Types of diversity 12 03.1.1. Background 12 03.1.2. Part 1 Methodology 12 03.1.3. Part 1 Outcomes 13 03.1.4. Part 2 Methodology 13 03.1.5. Part 2 Outcomes 14

03.2. Views and perception 15 03.2.1. Background 15 03.2.2. Methodology 15 03.2.3. Outcomes 15

03.3. Gender Diversity 101 16 03.3.1. Background 16 03.3.2. Methodology 16 03.3.3. Outcomes 16

BSE Aveiro 2019

03.4. Cultural effects on gender diversity

03.4.1. Background 17 03.4.2. Methodology 18 03.4.3. Outcomes 19

03.5. Unconscious Bias 19 03.5.1. Background 19 03.5.2. Methodology 20 03.5.3. Outcomes 20

03.6. Current situation in Higher Education Institutions 21 03.6.1. Background 21 03.6.2. Methodology 21 03.6.3. Outcomes 21

03.7. Affirmative Action and Quotas

03.8. Gender Diversity in STEM Careers

03.7.1. Background 23 03.7.2. Methodology 24 03.7.3. Outcomes 24 03.8.1. Background 25 03.8.2. Methodology 25 03.8.3. Outcomes 25

03.9. Personal Responsibility 26 03.9.1. Background 26 03.9.2. Methodology 26 03.9.3. Outcomes 27

03.10. Roles of Stakeholders 27 03.10.1. Background 27 03.10.2. Methodology 28 03.10.3. Outcomes 28

03.11. Case Study 38 03.10.1. Background 38 03.10.2. Methodology 38 03.10.3. Outcomes 39

BSE Aveiro 2019

01. Preface 01.1 Acknowledgements BEST Symposium on Education (BSE) “Lights, Camera, EducACTION” took place from the 23rd until the 31st of August 2019. However, its preparation had begun over 8 months before it actually took place. During that time, there were several contributions that the authors of this report deemed necessary to acknowledge.

01.2 Local BEST Group Aveiro To the Local BEST Group (LBG) Aveiro, which hosted and took care of the entire logistics of the event, with the support of the University of Aveiro, thank you very much for all your effort. A personal acknowledgement to the Main Organizer of BSE Aveiro, José, the rest of the Core Team of the event, and the local board for their dedication and help.

Core Team Name

Position

José Silva

Main Organizer

Ana Moura

Marketing Responsible

Diogo Prata

Fundraising Responsible

Simone Brito

IT Responsible

Marta Morgado

Participants Responsible

Pedro Vilares

Social Responsible

Luis Aguiar

Social Responsible

Nélia Ferreira

Cultural Responsible

André Lima

Cultural Responsible

Ana Rita Almeida

Logistics Responsible

Pedro Ouro

Logistics Responsible

BSE Aveiro 2019

Board of Local BEST Group Aveiro (2018–2019) Name

Position

Jorge Silva

President

Alexandre Vala

Treasurer

Dinis Bruno

Secretary

Catarina Lopes

VP for Internal Support

Maria Brandão

VP for Human Resources

01.3 Educational Involvement Department of BEST BSE Aveiro is a project supervised by the Educational Involvement Department of BEST. Through this department, BEST strives to raise awareness on educational matters, gather students’ input about them and then disseminate them to the relevant bodies. For that, we would like to acknowledge the effort of this department naming its Coordinators for the past and present year. • Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2018-2019: João Moita • Educational Involvement Department Coordinator 2019-2020: Silvia Marogel For more information, please check the following links: • Homepage of BEST/Educational Involvement: www.best.eu.org/educationalInvolvement • Homepage of Local BEST Group Aveiro: http://bestaveiro.web.ua.pt • Homepage of University of Aveiro (UA): https://www.ua.pt/

BSE Aveiro 2019

02. Introduction 02.1 Board of European Students of Technology Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is a constantly growing non-representative, non-political and non-profit voluntary student organisation, whose mission is to develop students. One of the core activities of BEST is the organisation of BEST courses, which aims to supplement the skills and outlook of European students of technology. Since the founding of BEST in 1989, more activities have been adapted to its vision of empowering diversity, counting European BEST Engineering Competition (EBEC), BEST Career Day (BCD) and the BEST Symposia on Education (BSE). A special unit of BEST is dedicated to connecting students of technology with contemporary educational topics on engineering education. Through the Educational Involvement Department, BEST strives to listen to the students’ ideas on what can be changed in their universities, study programmes and curricula. BEST is eager to be in close collaboration with the stakeholders of higher education, letting them know about innovative solutions, coming directly from the main receivers of education - students. BEST is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and cooperates with a number of corporate, career support, project and university partners to provide its services.

02.2. BEST Symposia on Education BEST Symposia on Education (BSE) were created to involve students in the process of educational improvement and raise their awareness about the possibility of students being involved in their education. Together with the other stakeholders involved directly or indirectly in educational matters, students discuss a variety of education-related topics. BEST counts on both the participants of the event and the stakeholders to provide insights on current educational matters in a most active way, in order to influence changes in education across Europe. In BEST Symposia on Education, participants are given the opportunity to express their thoughts on educational matters, which are then presented in the events’ final reports. Reports are used as a resource for writing papers on particular topics, typically submitted and presented in scientific conferences dealing with Higher Educational matters, thus making students’ voices heard.

BSE Aveiro 2019

02.3. BEST Symposium on Education Aveiro 2019 The main topic of the BEST Symposium on Education 2019 Aveiro was Gender Diversity in STEM Education, contributing to the topic of “Diversity in STEM Education” of this year’s Educational Involvement Programme. The topic is highly related to BEST’s vision (“Empowered Diversity”) and wants to highlight the importance of diversity in education.

02.3.1. Purpose The purposes of the BEST Symposium on Education 2019 Aveiro were the following: • Raise students’ awareness in education-related matters and gather input on different aspects of the topic from a students’ perspective; • Participants, individually, had the opportunity to practice and develop multiple soft skills such as presentation skills, interpersonal and communication skills, as well as improve their international interdisciplinary cooperation and teamwork.

02.3.2. Schedule

The event took place between the 23rd and 31st of August 2019 and was hosted by the University of Aveiro. The exact schedule of the event can be found above.

BSE Aveiro 2019

02.3.3. Content Team Alongside the Educational Involvement Department, a content team of BEST members designed the sessions of BSE Aveiro. Their contact information is shown below.

BSE Coordinator Antoniu Vulpe Email: antoniu.vulpe@BEST-eu.org

BSE Facilitators Beatriz Neiva Email: beatriz.neiva@BEST-eu.org Daniel GarcĂa GarcĂa Email: daniel.garcia.garcia@BEST-eu.org

BSE Aveiro 2019 02.3.4. Participants A total of 20 STEM students (8 male, 12 female) were engaged in the sessions of BSE Aveiro. University

Nationality

Gener

Age

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Hungary

Male

National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”

Ukraine

Female

Polytechnic of Turin

Italy

Male

Polytechnic of Turin

Italy

Female

Polytechnic University of Valencia

Spain

Male

Lviv Polytechnic National University

Ukraine

Female

University of Belgrade

Serbia

Female

University of Porto

Portugal

Male

National Technical University of Athens

Greece

Female

Ural Federal University

Russian Federation

Female

University of Naples “Federico II”

Italy

Male

Riga Technical University

Latvia

Female

Riga Technical University

Latvia

Female

Technical University of Madrid

Spain

Female

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Romania

Female

Bauman Moscow State Technical University

Russian Federation

Male

Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University

Russian Federation

Male

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Romania

Male

University of Aveiro

Portugal

Female

University of Aveiro

Portugal

Female

BSE Aveiro 2019 02.4. Methodology 02.4.1. Discussion group A discussion group is an interactive oral process in which a group of people is given a topic or a situation and after reflecting on it for a few minutes, they discuss their points of view with each other. The opinions and ideas are expressed in a systematic way.

02.4.2. World Café World Café methodology is a simple, effective and flexible format for hosting large group dialogues. Participants are divided into groups, each starting from a different spot or table. Each table has a specific topic which is being discussed. Discussions are recorded and after the allocated time, groups change tables. After moving to new tables, groups familiarize themselves with what was previously discussed there and then the new group adds its ideas. This process is repeated until all the groups have been to all the tables. Finally, the ideas from each table are presented to all the participants.

02.4.3. Brainstorming Brainstorming is a structured process which encourages the generation of a large number of ideas in a group setting. All ideas are recorded and no judgments or evaluations are made. It is perhaps the most popular technique used in groups to expand the thinking process. Brainstorming works on the premise that even crazy and “wild” ideas should be listed, as they may spark new and practical ideas that would otherwise not have surfaced. Participants of the brainstorming session are encouraged to contribute any ideas and to build upon others’ ideas.

02.4.4. SWOT analysis A SWOT analysis is a process which identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisation, situation or plan. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, analytical framework that assesses what an organisation/situation/plan can and cannot do, as well as its potential opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis takes information from an environmental analysis and separates it into internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.

02.4.5. Finger Rules The act of facilitating a session or discussion through the use of hand signs derived from sign language.

BSE Aveiro 2019 02.4.6. Role-play Role-playing represents consciously acting out an adopted role. As a facilitation tool, it is commonly used in order to make people think about specific scenarios. Usually, a role-play is done by 2 or 3 people from a group and based on their acting, a discussion starts. In this way, all the people from the group imagine the particularities of any situation and have a better perception of why or how it is happening and how it can improve.

02.4.7. Parking Lot Usually, in an event with more discussions participants donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always have the time to say all that they want in the time allocated for each session. In order for them to have the chance to deeply discuss any topic, the Parking lot came up. Throughout the event, participants can propose topics for the Parking lot and in the session, they decide what they want to discuss, based on their own preferences. The session is briefly facilitated just to make sure that the conversation goes smoothly, but the overall direction of it is decided only by the participants.

BSE Aveiro 2019

03. Sessions 03.1. Types of diversity Facilitators: Antoniu Vulpe, Beatriz Neiva

03.1.1. Background Throughout time, diversity as a concept has spread across the world, and has been remarked by many different groups of people, institutions or policymakers. Nations across the world have adopted laws in favour of empowering diversity, but not every entity manages to adapt at the same pace as the others, leading to inequalities. In universities, diversity is mostly faced by students. Regardless of the time, there are always students that fight for a change, that encounter difficulties in their classes or that are just bystanders. This session combined two different parts that emphasised different types of diversity.

03.1.2. Part 1 Methodology In the first part, students were given a list of nine types of diversity: • Race and ethnicity • Age and generation • Gender and gender identity • Sexual orientation • Religious and spiritual belief • Disability and ability • Socioeconomic status • Thinking style and personality • Personal life experience They were divided into four groups, and each of the groups had to answer the following questions, in a World Café display. • What is the most undervalued type of diversity according to you? • What kind of diversity do you see as most important to have in your studies? • From the presented list, which type do you consider to be most overvalued? • How much would you like to know on what other students think about diversity issues?

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.1.3. Part 1 Outcomes For the question “What is the most undervalued type of diversity?” the answers were: • Three out of four teams identified personality and personal inclination, because of too much standardization, everyone is educated the same way when we are very different • Three out of four teams identified social and economic status, because the people who can make a change don’t do so out of convenience, and it is hard to get out of a bad socio-economic situation • One team identified age and generation. For the question “What kind of diversity do you see as most important to have as part of your studies?” the answers were: • Two teams identified gender, because of different ways of thinking • Two teams identified race and ethnicity, because of different ways of thinking and experiences • One team identified cultural diversity • One team identified thinking style and personality For the question “From the presented list, which side do you consider to be most overvalued?” the answers were divided, the teams did not reach a consensus. They identified: • Race, because the culture is more important • Age, because it does not represent the experience • Sexual orientation • Gender • Disability • Cultural, because universities focus on foreign students For the question “How much would you like to know what other students think about diversity issues?” the answers were: • All teams agreed it is important to know what other students think about diversity issues, in order to gain more perspectives about them and find solutions using different approaches.

03.1.4. Part 2 Methodology In the second part, students were divided into six groups and they were each given a situation to act. Every situation included the role of the professor and the students that were unhappy about an issue that led to discrimination. After each team presented their decision and their acts, participants were asked why they chose to make those decisions.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.1.5. Part 2 Outcomes Role 1: Two students are not happy with a subject grade and think that the teacher gave more points to his colleague with visual impairment because of their disability. Result: The students confront the professor, but the professor does not change the grade. The group found that students sometimes think that students with disabilities get better grades because of their disabilities. Role 2: A student cannot come to the lab because of his mobility impairment and needs to ask the lab assistant for an excuse, risking to fail the subject. Result: The participant playing the student with a mobility impairment asked the lab assistant for an excuse, and the participants playing student bystanders backed them up. The group identified the importance of personal intervention in cases such as these, but the institution should ideally provide the needed help. Role 3: Two male students come to the professor complaining that their only female colleague got a higher grade than them. They think that the professor did it in order to promote gender diversity, without their colleague working for it. Result: The participant playing the professor admitted they gave a higher grade to the female student. The participants playing the male students complained and felt like they were discriminated against. Role 4: Three students are concerned whether they can communicate effectively with their future project mate who is an exchange student and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak their language. All of them speak English but they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel confident speaking it. Result: The group identified this scenario as a real problem, and considered that universities should make an effort to prepare students for interacting with international people. One idea was to have the professor assign groups and mix the students. Role 5: A Roma student goes to a teacher saying that another student used the offensive word (i.e. gypsy) when addressing them. What will the teacher do? Result: The participant playing the professor raised awareness and encouraged diversity at the end of a lecture. The group considered this method effective.

BSE Aveiro 2019

03.2. Views and perception Facilitators: Beatriz Neiva, Antoniu Vulpe

03.2.1. Background Participants may have had very different opinions and experiences with gender diversity. The goal of this session was for participants to share experiences and gauge their personal opinions about gender diversity, before learning about different factors that affect it or coming up with future solutions.

03.2.2. Methodology The session began with a sharing part, in which participants wrote any experience regarding gender injustice in their lives or from what they have seen on post-its and shared them with the rest of the group. Afterwards, they tackled four questions in a World Cafe format: • Why is there a gender imbalance in STEM? • How does gender diversity impact higher education? • How does gender affect success in a STEM career? • How is the gender imbalance in STEM being tackled right now and is it enough? After the participants were done with the World Café, the teams each read answers to one of the questions. Afterwards, the participants were asked to state what was their thought process when writing down their answers.

03.2.3. Outcomes For the first part of the session, everyone shared at least one gender injustice that happened to them or that they saw. For the question Why is there a gender imbalance in STEM?, the conclusions were: • There is a cycle because mostly males were traditionally in STEM • Stereotypes For the question How does gender diversity impact higher education?, the conclusions were: • More perspectives leading to better solutions to problems • It makes the university more meritocratic • Makes grades less likely to change with gender For the question How does gender affect success in a STEM career?, the conclusions were: • It’s harder for women, because of discrimination at higher positions • Women have to be better to succeed • Discrimination because of potential pregnancy

BSE Aveiro 2019 For the question How is the gender imbalance in STEM being tackled right now and is it enough?, the conclusion was: • While there are certain events for women, the participants agreed that it is not enough

03.3. Gender Diversity 101 Facilitators: Beatriz Neiva, Daniel García

03.3.1. Background The issue of gender inequality in STEM has been raised for some time now, and for that reason, there are quite a few scientific studies done on this subject to bring light to the extent of inequality and the causes of it. The goal of this session is to define gender diversity, present the historical and current situation of it through data, and gather input on the barriers women face throughout a STEM career.

03.3.2. Methodology The session began with a discussion about the difference between equality and equity, which one society should strive for and why. Afterwards, participants were presented some infographics and data on gender diversity and STEM, which they discussed. Finally, participants were split into groups and had to give their input on the barriers women face in different stages of their STEM career: primary and secondary education, higher education, early career, mid-career, and senior career. They presented their outcomes and discussed their findings in comparison to barriers found by the scientific community in a discussion paper.

03.3.3. Outcomes Barriers in primary and secondary education: • Stereotypes and expectations based on gender • No/few female role models Barriers in higher education: • Stereotypes (women are expected to behave a certain way, are perceived as less competent than their male counterparts) • Discrimination in certain fields/degrees and unequal treatment from professors or other students • Natural issues which aren’t considered by the university (periods, pregnancy)

BSE Aveiro 2019 Barriers in early career • Being underrated when looking for a job, especially in the beginning • Sexism, when not assigned certain tasks because of their gender • No family-friendly companies if they want to start a family • Being seen as sexual targets in the workplace • Having a harder time to prove themselves and difficulty to be treated as equal workers Barriers in mid-career • Women are expected to take care of their children and parents, leading to less time developing their career • People tend to expect more from women for the same achievement. They also have more trouble obtaining management positions Barriers in a senior career • Menopause • The participants determined that a lot of the barriers related to old age are common between men and women

03.4. Cultural effects on gender diversity Facilitators: Antoniu Vulpe, Beatriz Neiva

03.4.1. Background Gender inequality is present throughout people’s lives, from an early age when certain ideas and ways of thinking are ingrained consciously and subconsciously, to a more advanced age when those ideas are perpetuated to the next generation, creating a cycle that has to be tackled in each phase in order to effectively change the status quo. In order to have an overview of the root causes of gender inequality, participants learned, experienced and discussed different cultural causes of gender inequality.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.4.2. Methodology Participants were asked to give their input on how they think environment/upbringing affects gender diversity. Afterwards, they participated in activities designed to make them empathize with people experiencing cultural effects that affect gender diversity: gendered activities in early childhood, role models (and the lack of them), societal expectations and toxic masculinity. For gendered activities in early childhood, the participants each took a card out of a 20-card deck and were split into four groups, each group containing two leaders each. The groups had to create a drawing together using markers and pencils. Half of the leaders had been instructed to restrict access to the markers based on an arbitrary reason (in this case, the color of the card that the participant had picked). For role models (and the lack of them), the participants were told that they had been paired with another person and that they need to find their pair; when they found the pair, the “mentor” of the pair showed the “mentee” how to draw something. There were only eight pairs. For societal expectations and toxic masculinity, they engaged in a roleplaying exercise. Each group had one observer and 4 people who were playing a role. The observer wrote down what happened and presented it. They engaged in the following scenarios: Scenario 1: (Toxic masculinity) Group of friends having a beer together Person 1, 2: You think that men shouldn’t be emotional and make fun of them when they are. Person 3: You don’t want to join a conflict when it arises, just be neutral. Person 4: Your partner has just broken up with you and you are devastated. Tell your friends and seek emotional support. Scenario 2: (Toxic masculinity 2) Group of friends having a beer together Person 1: You think that men shouldn’t be emotional and make fun of them when they are. Person 2, 3: You are very supportive of your friends and would help them get through anything. Person 4: Your parents have just divorced and you are devastated. Tell your friends and seek emotional support. Scenario 3: (Societal expectations) Family dinner Person 1: You are one of the parents. You strongly believe that women should not be working in STEM. Person 2: You are one of the parents. You agree with the decisions the other parent makes. Person 3: You are the daughter. You have been accepted at a STEM university and tell your parents. Person 4: You are the son. You don’t want to get involved in family fights. Scenario 4: (Societal expectations 2) Family dinner Person 1: You are one of the parents. You believe that women should not be working in STEM. Person 2: You are one of the parents. You strongly believe your children should be able to decide what they do in life. Person 3: You are the daughter. You have been accepted at a STEM university and tell your parents. Person 4: You are the son. You support your sister’s decisions.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.4.3. Outcomes How do the cultural context and the environment people grow up in affect gender diversity?

University of Aveiro

People who are shy are not going to take advantage of some opportunities

Riga Technical University

If you grow up in the countryside, you will perceive men doing hard work as normal. If you grow up with both parents working normal jobs, you probably won’t have this bias

University of Naples “Federico II”

In some cultures, men are expected to work more and make more money than women

University of Porto

In Portuguese academic traditions, songs are very sexist, especially in engineering faculties, making women uncomfortable

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

In some cultures, men are expected to make the money to support their family

University of Aveiro

People discriminate and put labels on other people based on their gender, contributing to gender inequality

University of Aveiro

Regarding most religions, men are more important and hold higher positions

University of Aveiro

Kids are more affected by their environment because they are more prone to absorb things around them

03.5. Unconscious Bias Facilitators: Daniel Garcia, Antoniu Vulpe

03.5.1. Background Unconscious biases are a type of bias which are usually rooted in someone’s culture, environment and/or upbringing and affect people’s decision-making every day without them making a conscious effort to identify them. In this session, participants were introduced to the concept of unconscious bias, its possible origins, and discussed ways to combat it.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.5.2. Methodology At the beginning of the session, participants were faced with a riddle, which they had 5 minutes to respond to on a post-it: “A father and son get in a car crash and are rushed to the hospital. The father dies. The boy is taken to the operating room and the surgeon says, ‘I can’t operate on this boy, because he’s my son.’ How is this possible?”. Afterwards, they watched a TED talk about this subject and discussed it and unconscious bias in general. Lastly, they were split into groups, worked to find solutions on how to combat unconscious bias, presented and discussed them.

03.5.3. Outcomes Around half of the participants couldn’t find the right answer to the riddle, and were surprised to learn the answer. They agreed that unconscious bias is a real problem for gender diversity, and it’s something hard to tackle. Group work - combating unconscious bias Group 1: • Breaking stereotypes through media • Meetings with people who could be victims of unconscious bias • Trying to get another perspective of the situation • Education (about unconscious bias) since a very young age Group 2: • Accept it exists • Train yourself to avoid biased phrases • Brainstorming to reach more people, discussion sessions • Turn ideas into reality • Test yourself constantly and spread information Group 3: • Set reminders about it • Pay attention to feedback from others • Have this subject in specific courses, increase awareness Group 4: • Change media representation (advertisements, books etc) • Mix teams in sports Group 5: • Break stereotypes through media • Promote art that goes against stereotypes • Flyers and posters against bias • Highschool workshops • Promote role models who break the norm • Mixed-gender competitions

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.6. Current situation in Higher Education Institutions Facilitators: Daniel García, Antoniu Vulpe

03.6.1. Background The gender diversity situation differs from university to university. Some are more invested in making sure they provide a safe environment for all genders and encourage gender diversity through different means like programs, classes, teaching methods, events and so on, while others might encounter certain issues and gaps in this area, with students bearing the consequences. The goal of this session is to gather the situation and context of different universities from students’ perspective, and getting their impression about it.

03.6.2. Methodology The session started by gathering the situation in participants’ universities by having them move around the room on a matrix to select the answer that fits the asked question, discussing the results afterwards. Finally, they were split into groups, discussed and shared their opinions about the current situation of gender diversity in STEM higher education in general, how it has evolved over the years and how it will evolve in the future.

03.6.3. Outcomes What is the ratio of male and female students in your university? • 90% male - 10% female -> 3 participants • 70% male - 30% female -> 15 participants • 60% male - 40% female -> 1 participant • 50% male - 50% female -> 1 participant

BSE Aveiro 2019 The participants noted that the ratio depends on the faculty, with traditionally male degrees having more male students and vice versa. What is the ratio of male and female professors in your university? • 90% male - 10% female -> 5 participants • 70% male - 30% female -> 6 participants • 60% male - 40% female -> 5 participants • 50% male - 50% female -> 4 participants

Some participants have identified one of the causes of this inequality being that there are many older professors, and most of them are male because gender inequality was worse some time ago. They also identified an unequal representation in the types of qualifications professors have (with males holding higher positions/qualifications within the university). What is the ratio of female and male staff in your university? • 90% female - 10% male -> 1 participant • 70% female - 30% male -> 13 participants • 60% female - 40% male -> 3 participants • 50% female - 50% male -> 3 participants

In most cases, participants’ universities’ administration is primarily comprised of women. However, men hold the majority of the leadership positions in their universities. Most of their universities have no policies to increase gender diversity, and they were divided on whether a board composed entirely of men will come up with such policies.

BSE Aveiro 2019 Are there student organizations involved in gender diversity? A majority of the participants either answered no, or didn’t know. Three of them knew of such organizations within their universities. Group work - opinions on the current situation What do you think about the current situation of gender diversity in STEM higher education? • Male-dominated, mostly safe environment except for misogynistic professors • A better economic situation improves gender diversity, children have more opportunities than their parents • There is a lack of attention to the topic and understanding of its importance • There is a lot of room for improvement How do you think it’s going to evolve in the future? • Improving gender diversity is more effective when done from a younger age • Policies and proposals will have an impact • Awareness about gender diversity will increase thanks to feminist movements • It’s important to take actions towards gender diversity, otherwise, there will be no change How do you think this situation has evolved over the years? • Evolution has been slow, but it has improved • If a university has had proper funding, they were able to focus on this issue • Older people don’t understand the issue and there is a need to take action and be persistent for the social environment to change

03.7. Affirmative Action and Quotas Facilitators: Daniel García, Antoniu Vulpe

03.7.1. Background In order to combat the cultural effects on gender inequality, some universities and companies have resorted to different solutions, such as affirmative action and quotas. Affirmative action can be defined as a positive effort, beyond the elimination of discrimination, to seek out and select/employ persons of groups that have been discriminated against, while quotas indicate an inflexible and predetermined result. The goal of this session was to introduce the participants to these concepts, have them think critically and explore the pros and cons of them.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.7.2. Methodology The session started by bridging the previous sessions on cultural effects and unconscious bias with affirmative action and quotas. They were presented statistics regarding the gender wage gap and gender diversity in companies. The participants’ opinion regarding quotas was tested by having them stand in a circle, and moving towards the center to the extent they agreed with them (with the center being 100% agreement, outside circle 0%). They were split into two teams, with the half who agreed the most in team 1 and the rest in team 2. The two teams then proceeded to participate in an Oxford-style structured debate, team 1 arguing for quotas and team 2 arguing against. Rules: • • • • • • • • •

Each team chooses a representative, who will be in charge to talk. Team 2 has 10 minutes to prepare the initial statement. Explain statement Team 1 has 10 min to prepare the challenge for the other team’s statement. Challenge idea Team 2 has 10 min to prepare the challenge for the other team’s challenge. Challenge idea 10 minutes to achieve common ground (in a conclusion) Conclude

In the end, they discussed on the result.

03.7.3. Outcomes When asked how much they agreed with quotas, most participants mostly disagreed; the extent to which they disagreed varied. Debate - statements: Team 2 (against): People are hired just because of their gender and not based on their own merit. The best person for the job isn’t hired. The people hired because of quotas end up facing discrimination in the workplace. Equality is not about having the same number of people from each gender, but about having the same selection process. Team 1 (for): Quotas are important because they help change the perspective of people who can have a certain job. They work as a way to inspire, and help fight unconscious bias. If we try to introduce and push a little change maybe things will change. Quotas are the only short term action that we can afford right now. It has also been shown many times that gender-balanced companies perform better. Team 2 (against): It is a short term solution. One good option is programs that can help women achieve the education they need and enable them to feel empowered and capable to take those jobs. Quotas create social tension inside the workplace.

BSE Aveiro 2019 Team 1 (for): The solution lies in education, but it takes time. For the present and short term future, quotas can be a good option considering all factors that take part in the gender imbalance. Because of the cycle that exists throughout life (childhood - education - adulthood), all stages need to be tackled, and quotas are one of the only solutions to combat gender discrimination in adulthood. After the debate, the participants discussed the fact that they didn’t necessarily agree with all arguments, but it was a good way to see the other perspective and find pros and cons, however, they viewed quotas as too deterministic and not a good way to combat gender inequality. When asked about affirmative action instead of quotas, the majority agreed with it and considered it an effective way to combat gender inequality.

03.8. Gender Diversity in STEM Careers Facilitators: Antoniu Vulpe, Outsystems

03.8.1. Background The issue of gender inequality is prevalent in STEM companies and affects students or graduates not only when applying for a job, but also throughout their career. Some companies have certain programs and have taken actions to improve gender diversity. In this session, participants explored some of these actions and got to see and discuss a company’s perspective on gender diversity.

03.8.2. Methodology The session started with a presentation about gender diversity in the (STEM) workplace. Participants were presented some statistics about discrimination, management positions and gender, and other gender-related workforce data. Afterwards, they were presented some actions that companies take to combat inequality. Lastly, they talked about unconscious bias in companies, split into groups and found solutions to certain specific biased behaviors.

03.8.3. Outcomes Participants saw the inequality present in companies as a problem that needs to be addressed, even though they were not surprised by the extent of it. Group work - solutions to biased behaviors Group 1 - ”On average, men and women differ in their willingness to devote the time required by such ‘high powered’ positions” The group imagined they were an HR team in the company, and found that having blind interviews with voice changers would be a good solution.

BSE Aveiro 2019 Group 2 - ”On average, men and women differ naturally in their scientific interests.” • Hold workshops with diverse representation in all levels of education • Have mentors from an underrepresented gender mentor students • Support people on how to communicate and present themselves on interviews • Spread the message that it’s not the case that they differ naturally in the company Group 3 - ”On average, men and women differ in their willingness to spend time away with their families” • Offer the same amount of parental leave to all genders • Raise awareness about stay-at-home fathers • Showcase women who work abroad or are more career-focused Group 4 - ”Directly or indirectly, boys and girls tend to receive different levels of encouragement for developing scientific interest” • Organize team-based tasks/competitions for school-aged children and enforce a 50/50 gender split for the teams • Create gender-neutral media • Organize courses for teachers • Organize trainings for parents Group 5 - ”On average, whether consciously or unconsciously, men are favored in hiring and promotion” • Take interviews without personal attendance (text, or VoIP with a voice changer) • Organize skills reviews for all employees • Set unconscious bias reminders for interviewers

03.9. Personal Responsibility Facilitators: Antoniu Vulpe, Daniel García

03.9.1. Background When talking about gender diversity, it is often assumed that it should be something that is tackled by institutions, companies, governments; however, there are actions that everyone can take to combat discrimination and inequality. In this session, participants come up with these actions, and explore the bystander effect, a social psychological claim that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

03.9.2. Methodology First, the participants reflected on the role of personal responsibility when combating gender inequality, and discussed why it is important. Afterwards, they watched a video about the bystander effect and shared their experiences with it. They received a presentation about the different kinds of behaviors that might arise (obvious and non-obvious). Finally, participants were split into two groups and worked on creating guidelines for combating both types of behaviours; they presented and discussed their findings.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.9.3. Outcomes Participants agreed that it is important to act when witnessing a gender injustice, but realized that people don’t always do so. After learning about the bystander effect, they identified the fact that it happens often in higher education. Group work - personal actions to combat obvious and non-obvious behavior Obvious

Non-obvious

Communicate separately with the offender

Communicate with the offender in order to let them know it’s not okay

Exclude the person from the community

Let the offender know how the victim feels

Encourage victims to share stories of how they overcame these problems

For different grading based on gender: take tests and hide the name

Ask for support from the offend- Encourage others to act er’s superior Give anonymous feedback Intervene when the injustice happens Support the victim Encourage others to act

03.10. Roles of Stakeholders Facilitators: Daniel Garcia, Antoniu Vulpe, Beatriz Neiva

03.10.1. Background As has been determined in the other sessions, the issue of gender diversity in STEM higher education is a complicated one and has to be tackled from multiple perspectives. The goal of this session is for the participants to use all knowledge and context gained in the previous sessions, find and prioritize the problems related to gender diversity in STEM higher education; afterwards, find specific actions that each stakeholder can take in order to solve the problem, and prioritize those actions in order to be able to develop an action plan.

BSE Aveiro 2019 03.10.2. Methodology The session started with participants doing an individual brainstorming about problems regarding gender diversity on post-its; they then stuck the post-its on a wall. After running out of ideas, they split into two groups; the first group silently clustered similar post-its into problems for five minutes. The second group then had five minutes to silently check the first groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work and make any changes they deemed necessary. Participants then came one by one to propose names for the clusters, discussing it with the rest. After naming all clusters, they had a list of problems which needed to be prioritized. They split again into two teams and, like the first time, the first group silently ordered the problems on the ground; the second group then silently checked their work and made any changes they deemed necessary. After prioritizing the problems, the participants engaged in an Open Space Technology with four stations: Students, Universities, Companies and Governments. For each problem they had 10 minutes to walk to the different stations and propose actions that those stakeholders can take to tackle it, starting with the most prioritized problem and moving towards the least prioritized problem. After determining the actions that each stakeholder can take, they recapped their findings and discussed them. After that, they were split into four groups (one for each stakeholder) and were tasked with prioritizing the actions by writing them on color-coded post-its (based on the stakeholder) and placing them on an impact/effort matrix. They went through each problem one by one, presented how they wanted to place the actions on the matrix, and discussed any necessary changes with the other groups.

03.10.3. Outcomes After brainstorming, clustering and prioritization, the participants came up with this list of prioritized problems: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Lack of equal opportunities Lack of action Sexism and harassment Conservative environment Discrimination Stereotypes Unconscious and conscious bias Lack of diversity Lack of role models

BSE Aveiro 2019 For universities, here are the actions they have identified: 1. Lack of equal opportunities

• Make sure agreements with companies (such as internship offers) are gender-neutral (in some countries this is not the case) • University policies that encourage impartial behavior in teachers • System of warnings and consequences • Anonymous feedback system

2. Lack of action • • • • • • • •

Trainings for professors Raise awareness about these problems Implement internal rules against discrimination Consequences can include lowering salary, downgrading title Feedback system, surveys, meetings with students If it’s very negative, the contract doesn’t get renewed for the next term Sensitivity campaigns Create proper environments to denounce bad behaviors

3. Sexism and harassment

• • • •

Conferences, congresses, speeches to raise awareness Shame offenders Fire offenders Organize trainings on how to avoid sexism

4. Conservative enironment

• Educational events to change conservative points of view • Raise wages to involve younger teachers • Anonymous feedback system

5. Discrimination

• • • •

Anonymous exams Anonymous feedback system University policies to control discrimination Mixed-gender workgroups

6. Stereotypes

• • • •

Same approach for students regardless of gender Diversify project groups gender-wise Trainings for teachers to avoid stereotypes Have all genders represented in

7. Unconscious conscious bias

• Presentations about unconscious bias so students can identify it

8. Lack of diversity

• Create programs that encourage diversity between students • Organize events in high schools in order to make engineering popular among girls • Advertise engineering courses with female role models to inspire girls to try engineering

9. Lack of role models

• Events with well-known engineers, professors, influencers, entrepreneurs sharing their experience • Work with the alumni network • Create a social media campaign and share the opinions of female workers

BSE Aveiro 2019 For students, here are the actions they have identified: 1. Lack of equal opportunities

• Deep research on job offers • Raising awareness (manifestations) • Promote in student NGOs competitions that encourage gender diversity • Support and understand each other

2. Lack of action • Student organizations gathering students’ opinions, raising awareness, organizing events, promotions, addressing the issue with university management • Acting as soon as they notice the problem • Cooperation between different student organizations 3. Sexism and harassment

• • • • • •

4. Conservative enironment

• Reply to feedback surveys • Actively start discussions about gender diversity • Organize activities geared towards older people to combat conservatism in this area

5. Discrimination

• • • • •

6. Stereotypes

• Don’t divide male and female students into separate groups (with the help of student councils and different organizations) • Organize events that promote gender diversity • Treat people equally regardless of gender

7. Unconscious conscious bias

• • • •

8. Lack of diversity

• Join student organizations which work on empowering diversity

9. Lack of role models

• Start a mentorship program • Organize community talks (TEDx on related topics) • Spread information through printed materials like flyers

Stand up for oneself and for others Reporting mistreatment ASAP Put some mental effort into fighting and changing stereotypes Asking for a superior’s help Create organizations against sexism Strive to not be sexist

Complain and discuss when someone faces a problem React when someone is discriminated against Organize marches and protests Create supportive organizations Share your problems with others/Create support groups

Have mixed teams in sports Speak up when noticing a bias Raise awareness of the potential to have an unconscious bias Train oneself against unconscious bias

BSE Aveiro 2019 For companies, here are the actions they have identified: 1. Lack of equal opportunities

• Organize more internships • Promote the company in high schools and universities • Evaluate employees only by their progress and knowledge, not by their gender, through blind interviews

2. Lack of action • Increase awareness about gender inequality through media 3. Sexism and harassment

• Give victims the chance to report problems in an anonymous way • Penalize employees who are sexist • Promote role models

4. Conservative enironment

• Organize workshops to increase inter-generational understanding • Allow a flexible schedule for parents of infants

5. Discrimination

• Create and use software to evaluate employees equally and regularly

6. Stereotypes

• Create training videos • Collaborate with schools to fight against stereotypes • Invite women in positions of power to give speeches

7. Unconscious conscious bias

• Create tests to check employee biases • Create training exercises for employees to train against unconscious bias

8. Lack of diversity

• Offer more paternity leave • Offer more schedule flexibility for parents • Organize job fairs in universities

9. Lack of role models

• External presentations/speeches/visits should be led by a diverse team gender-wise

BSE Aveiro 2019 For Governments, here are the actions they have identified: 1. Lack of equal opportunities

• Run campaigns against unequal opportunities • Tax incentives for companies that support equal opportunities • Make it illegal to fire people for having a child

2. Lack of action • Raise awareness for gender diversity • Encourage companies to create programs that help gender diversity • Encourage universities to create programs that help gender diversity 3. Sexism and harassment

• Create committees which investigate media content and ensure that they are not sexist • Pass stricter laws against harassment • Support anti-harassment movements, NGOs, programs

4. Conservative enironment

• Fund universities more in order to raise employee wages • Organize sharing sessions to show people other perspectives

5. Discrimination

• Encourage women to hold positions of power in politics • Create social campaigns to raise awareness about discrimination • Create regulations to have exams be graded anonymously

6. Stereotypes

• Create progressive children’s books • Criminalize catcalling • Promote gender diversity through social media and mass media channels • Create TV programming which challenges stereotypes • Discuss gender diversity in schools • Make educational programs gender neutral

7. Unconscious conscious bias

• Raise awareness for bias through mass media channels

8. Lack of diversity

• • • •

9. Lack of role models

• Invest in research done by women in science • Stream TV shows and documentaries about successful women on public broadcasting

Combination of all other solutions Encourage affirmative action Tax incentives for supporting diversity Organize social campaigns to promote the importance of diversity

BSE Aveiro 2019 Note: The data in the impact/effort matrix is represented by a different color representing actions that can be taken by Universities, Students, Companies, Governments

Universities

Green

Students

Yellow

Companies

Blue

Governments

Red

For problem 1, Lack of equal opportunities, the following impact/effort matrix was created by the participants: Lack of equal opportunities High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Promote in student NGOs competitions • University policies that encourage imthat encourage gender diversity partial behavior in teachers • Promote the company in high schools and • Raising awareness (manifestations) universities • Evaluate employees only by their progress and knowledge, not by their gender, through blind interviews • Organize more internships Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Deep research on job offers • Make sure agreements with companies • Support and understand each other (such as internship offers) are gender • Run campaigns against unequal opportuneutral nities • Tax incentives for companies that support equal opportunities • Make it illegal to fire people for having a child

BSE Aveiro 2019 Lack of action High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort • Trainings for professors • Implement internal rules against discrimination • Feedback system, surveys, meetings with students • Create proper environments to denounce bad behaviors • Student organizations gathering students’ opinions, raising awareness, organizing events, promotions, addressing the issue with university management • Increase awareness about gender inequality through media • Encourage companies to create programs that help gender diversity • Encourage universities to create programs that help gender diversity

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Acting as soon as they notice the problem • Raise awareness about these problems • Cooperation between different student organizations • Raise awareness for gender diversity

BSE Aveiro 2019

Sexism and harassment High Impact/ Low Effort • Give victims the chance to report problems in an anonymous way • Support anti-harassment movements, NGOs, programs

High Impact/ High Effort • Conferences, congresses, speeches to raise awareness • Create organizations against sexism • Penalize employees who are sexist • Promote role models

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Shame offenders • Fire offenders • Organize trainings on how to avoid sexism • Stand up for oneself and for others • Reporting mistreatment ASAP • Put some mental effort into fighting and changing stereotypes • Asking for a superior’s help • Strive to not be sexist • Create committees which investigate media content and ensure that they are not sexist • Pass stricter laws against harassment

Conservative environment High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Reply to feedback surveys • Educational events to change conserva• Organize sharing sessions to show people tive points of view other perspectives • Raise wages to involve younger teachers • Implement an anonymous feedback system • Organize activities geared towards older people to combat conservatism in this area • Organize workshops to increase inter-generational understanding • Allow a flexible schedule for parents of infants • Fund universities more in order to raise employee wages Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Actively start discussions about gender diversity

BSE Aveiro 2019

Discrimination High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

Anonymous exams Mixed gender work groups Create supportive organizations Encourage women to hold positions of power in politics • Create regulations to have exams be graded anonymously • • • •

• Anonymous feedback system • Organize marches and protests • Create and use software to evaluate employees equally and regularly • Create social campaigns to raise awareness about discrimination

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• University policies to control discrimination • React when someone is discriminated against • Share your problems with others/Create support groups

Stereotypes High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Trainings for teachers to avoid stereo• Have the same approach for students types regardless of gender • Have all genders represented in leader• Collaborate with schools to fight against ship positions stereotypes • Women professors as role models • Don’t divide male and female students into separate groups (with the help of student councils and different organizations) • Organize events that promote gender diversity • Treat people equally regardless of gender • Invite women in positions of power to give speeches • Create progressive children’s books • Create TV programming which challenges stereotypes • Discuss gender diversity in schools • Make educational programs gender neutral Low Impact/ Low Effort • • • •

Low Impact/ High Effort

Diversify project groups gender-wise Create training videos Criminalize catcalling Promote gender diversity through social media and mass media channels

BSE Aveiro 2019 Unconscious and conscious bias High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Create tests to check employee biases

• Have mixed teams in sports • Create training exercises for employees to train against unconscious bias

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Presentations about unconscious bias so students can identify it • Speak up when noticing a bias

• Train oneself against unconscious bias • Raise awareness of the potential to have an unconscious bias • Raise awareness for bias through mass media channels

Lack of diversity High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Create programs that encourage diversity between students • Organize events in high schools in order to make engineering popular among girls • Advertize engineering courses with female role models to inspire girls to try engineering • Join student organizations which work on empowering diversity • Organize social campaigns to promote the importance of diversity

• Offer more paternity leave • Offer more schedule flexibility for parents • Organize job fairs in universities • Combination of all other solutions

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort • Encourage affirmative action

BSE Aveiro 2019 Lack of role models High Impact/ Low Effort

High Impact/ High Effort

• Organize events with well known engineers, professors, influencers, entrepreneurs sharing their experience • Create a social media campaign and share opinions of female workers • Work with the alumni network • Organize community talks (TEDx on related topics) • External presentations/speeches/visits should be led by a diverse team gender-wise

• Start a mentorship program • Spread information through printed materials like flyers

Low Impact/ Low Effort

Low Impact/ High Effort

• Stream TV shows and documentaries • Invest in research done by women in about successful women on public broadscience casting

03.11. Case Study Facilitators: Antoniu Vulpe, Beatriz Neiva, Daniel Garcia

03.10.1. Background The participants have learned and discussed a lot about gender diversity and came up with a lot of interesting ideas throughout the event. In this session the goal was for them to use all that knowledge and all those ideas and work on solving a gender diversity problem through student or university action, by undergoing a case study and creating a realistic action plan.

03.10.2. Methodology The participants were given the choice to either work on an action plan that can be undertaken by universities, or something that they, as students, can implement in their own universities. They were split into five groups according to their preferences. Afterwards, they were given all actions that were deemed “High Impact/Low Effort” from the previous session, so they could choose what to work on. While the groups worked on their case studies, they had certain phases marked by checkpoints, which, when reached, they had to talk to a facilitator and summarize what they had so far. The facilitators would then proceed to guide the teams and help wherever needed. The phases were defined as follows: • Define the problem you want to solve • Research and brainstorm ideas • How do you plan to do it? (action plan) (repeat until necessary) • Prepare the presentation

03.10.3. Outcomes Team 1: Regional student organization which fights against discrimination Targets: • victims of discrimination • concerned people • unconscious discriminators • bystanders • conscious discriminators Services provided: 1. Report & Data collection a. Surveys b. Analyze data c. Write report/paper d. Disseminate e. Talk to universities about how to improve situation 2. Bringing the topic to light a. Promotion plan (social media, posters) -> everyone b. Workshops -> victims, concerned people, bystanders, unconscious discriminators 3. Support sessions (for victims) a. Anonymous helpline (phone/whatsapp) b. Hold sessions (group, individual) for victims c. Provide professional help 4. Group sessions (for sharing, discussion) a. Plan the session b. Promote the session c. Share the outcomes By gathering a few interested students in the beginning and gradually growing, this idea would fight discrimination within students’ ranks. Team 2: Student organization which fights for gender diversity and equal opportunities Name: DOOR (Diversity Oriented ORganization) Services provided: • Support victims • Events in high schools • Talks with role-models • Mentoring program • Organize school visits in the university • University fairs • Design competition: creating toys/games for both boys and girls promoting engineering • Event with talks that will focus on fighting stereotypes The idea is basically to support the gender diversity of any STEM higher education institution where the organization is based.

BSE Aveiro 2019 For the presentation, the participants had access to a whiteboard, beamer, flipcharts and other materials; there were 7 minutes of presentation with 5 minutes of questions per team. Participants were offered and provided feedback on their presentations. Team 3: Event/competition for final year high school students Name: SheSTEM SheSTEM is a template of an event that takes two days and can be used by any university; it is a competition with enforced gender diversity in team composition, offering scholarships for winners. The topic itself is chosen by the university, based on the field of interest. Besides the competition, the idea includes networking sessions and talks given by female role models. Team 4: Combating sexism and sexual harassment among professors This team approached the problem from the university side. The plan that universities can implement: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Zero tolerance approach for sexual harassment • Internal rules • Fines and penalties Whole School approach • Create an organization that combats this problem • Include all the university staff in this problem • Create a helpline • Take opportunities to discuss sexism in universities (subjects, lectures) Professor development • Trainings as part of teachers’ initial education • Continue professional development and mentoring PR strategy • Team up with companies • Internal promotion

Team 5: Combating lack of role-models This team approached the problem from the university side. They proposed creating an ambassador program inside the university where people holding different positions would speak in high schools and share their experience. Additionally, they propose the creation of a mentor program as well, where mentors guide students through their university life and eventually, the start of their career.

Authors:

Antoniu Vulpe (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania) Beatriz Neiva (Univerity of Porto, Porto) Daniel GarcĂa (Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain)