The Gender Dimension in Research and Innovation

Abstract

This report investigates how research funding organisations (RFOs) globally work to promote the inclusion of the gender dimension in research and innovation. Methods of sex and gender analysis in research serve to enhance research excellence as well as the lives of men and women. According to the European Commission, the gender dimension should be included in research when relevant. This is also stated in the policies of many national RFOs, but how do they work to implement them? This study investigates patterns in how the RFOs organize their work and points out common challenges as well as the consequences of different measures, priorities and decisions. This study aims to map knowledge on this matter using several different methods. Primarily, the study is a survey of national RFOs around the world, as well as international or supranational organisations such as the European Union and the United Nations. We identified 150 RFOs, in most countries of the world, for the survey. Although the response rate was quite low, 20 per cent, we believe that there are interesting conclusions that can be drawn from the material regarding the types of policies and forms of implementation that have proven possible within each organization. To further map knowledge about this issue, we have completed a thorough review of previous studies of the issue, as well as analysed interviews with two RFOs that were conducted as a pilot to the survey. We have also carried out a smaller desk study of how a number of RFOs describe their implementations of relevant policies. This study can serve as a starting point for more comprehensive studies of how RFOs around the world relate to issues of gender in the content of the research they fund. The report can be seen as an indicative guide for research funding organizations that are working, or want to work, with these issues. The report should be of interest to research policymakers who design the directives for research funding organizations, as well as members of review committees.