"Spotlight on..." Equal Opportunity Commissioners

Where do you see main challenges to equal opportunities in academia?

We think one of the biggest challenges is the “leaky pipeline” — people from underrepresented groups tend to drop out at each career step. Early academic jobs are unstable, and that hits those with less financial flexibility or with family responsibilities much harder. On top of that, subtle biases in hiring and promotion and a lack of supportive mentoring make it harder to stay in the system. So even though the entry level looks diverse, the higher you go, the less equal it gets. For instance, women are still strongly underrepresented when looking at professorships in German academia as a whole.

What are central topics you would like to address?

We want to strengthen existing gender equality measures and introduce new initiatives to make the GIGA a place that is attentive to different life phases and needs – whether it’s family responsibilities, health-related aspects, or psychological well-being.

What do you hope to achieve during your term as Equal Opportunity Commissioners?

Our goal is to raise awareness for questions of gender, diversity and equal opportunities at GIGA and streamline these topics into every discussion – be it in terms of institutional development or in terms of research topics and research designs. We also want to support the institute in becoming a place of equal opportunities for everyone and offer our guidance during hiring processes.