Summary: Gender and Inclusivity Dialogue: Science Granting Councils as Catalysts

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1423751086688{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}” parallax_background=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Gender and inclusivity is a cross cutting theme identified in the implementation of SGCI-2, and the focus of a GRC working group to deepen council conversations and actions in this area. This session – a collaboration of the GRC Gender Working Group (GWG) and the SGCI – sought to share experiences and practices, explore possible actions, and understand the needs of African Science Granting Councils (internally and externally) to be addressed in SGCI-2 and through the GWG in three broad areas covering gender and inclusivity: (i) promoting the equality and status of women in research; (ii) equality, diversity and inclusivity beyond gender equality; and (iii) the sex/gender dimension in research design and content.

The GRC GWG regionally launched its 2019 knowledge product: “Supporting Women in Research: Policies, Programmes and Initiatives Undertaken by Public Research Funding Agencies”. It presented its 2018/2019 achievements and engagements, and launched the GRC survey on Gender Disaggregated Data at GRC Participating Organisations, with a deadline for submission of survey results by ASGCs by 15 December 2019.

The SGCI presented its contributions to gender and inclusivity since its establishment and its intention to expand this in SGCI-2, with a specific focus of gender and inclusivity as a cross-cutting theme.

There was a richness of examples of practices, initiatives and experiences shared during the discussions, as outlined below:

SGCs are increasingly enacting policies and strategies to promote the status and equality of women in research: NRF Kenya, MESRI (Ghana), UNCST (Uganda) and PASRES (Ivory Coast) have enacted policies to support women in research. UNCST specifically reported that the council has recently revised its national funding guidelines to support gender research as a national priority. The IDRC (Canada), Sida (Sweden), NSF (US), DFG (Germany), KACST (Saudi Arabia) and UKRI also shared their gender and inclusivity policies.

The number of female researchers in many Sub-Saharan African countries continues to be low: The majority of SGCs indicated that the lower numbers of female researchers are especially in the early-career phase, with social and cultural expectations (family responsibility) as a key hindering factor for progress of women researchers.

Diversity of approaches are being explored: SGCs reported the use of training workshops exclusively for female researchers, policy dialogues, women in leadership programmes, and associations of women researchers as approaches used to promote the status of women in research. Burkina Faso has a gender focal point leading the implementation of its gender strategy. Some SGCs, PASRES and FONRID (Burkina Faso), have issued calls for proposals targeted at women and young researchers, and have also implemented a gender quota. UNCST considers gender as part of its research ethics approval process. The NSF (US), DFG (Germany), KACST (Saudi Arabia) and UKRI shared various approaches including: the issuance of comprehensive sexual harassment policy, gender standards, supporting women employees to pursue studies abroad through dedicated fellowships, and offering unconscious bias training to review panellists.

Greater support for SGCs needed: For SGCI-2 and the GRC GWG, SGCs shared the following as areas of support that they would appreciate support on: creating a platform for women researchers to continually engage on their experiences; collection, analysis and reporting of gender disaggregated data; sharing practices on considering family responsibility; encouraging the formation of national women researchers’ associations; implementing training programmes on gender (mentoring and leadership) geared at researchers; how to mainstream inclusivity and the gender/sex dimension in research in the research and grants management cycle; platforms to continually share the experiences and practices of SGCs and showcase the achievements of female researchers; and how to advocate for gender and inclusivity with policymakers and the academic community

Storytelling is a powerful tool to encourage and influence action: Uganda’s research council told its story of change stemming from the results of a national research and development survey it had conducted and that had found that the number of women in research in Uganda, and specifically the numbers funded by UNCST were low. This had led to policy action in revising their national funding guidelines to include gender research as a national priority, the council requiring research consortia to reflect inclusivity, the council supporting gender research, the disaggregation of statistics by gender, and encouraging researchers to consider gender biases in research. Each SGC has a story of change to tell and this can be a powerful tool to inspire and influence action.

Challenges regarding gender and inclusivity are experienced by funding agencies globally: During a panel discussion where GRC participating organisations representing the US, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the UK shared their experiences, the same challenges related to low numbers of female researchers, the newness of considering inclusivity and the sex/gender dimension in research by funding agencies, for example, were outlined.

For inclusivity, the human rights discourse is a powerful approach: In the last session of the dialogue, Sida (Sweden), IDRC (Canada) and the NRF (South Africa) shared their experiences of considering inclusivity in funding. For the IDRC, the importance of supporting gender transformative research was underlined; and within the organisation, further attention to unconscious biases was being given attention. Sida’s approach to gender and inclusivity in funding has considered three aspects including representation and rights and resources, guided by the human rights-based approach. The organisation has developed a number of comprehensive toolkits applicable within the organisation and externally to safeguard good practices in funding. For the NRF, elements of identity that have become critical to integrate in, especially, a new policy on postgraduate funding include, citizenship, race, gender, part-time study, age and financial need.

In summary, the session focused on five key aspects: NUMBERS, ADVOCACY, INCENTIVES, FUNDING, and DATA. The GRC and SGCI collaboration in hosting the session was lauded and encouraged for future similar engagements in the context of the annual meetings, and SGCs were encouraged to use the opportunity in SGCI-2 to set targets for gender and inclusivity congruent with national contexts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]