The Center for Science, Communication and Society Studies of the Pompeu Fabra University (CCS-UPF), has prepared the guide "How to incorporate the gender perspective in our research?" to promote gender-sensitive research.

The document targets all those engaged in research who have concluded that it is useful and necessary to adopt the gender perspective in their work, but do not yet have the necessary tools to do so. It seeks to answer the questions "Does my research take the gender perspective into account?" or "How can we ensure gender-sensitive research?".

Regarding the motivation to develop this guide, Gema Revuelta, director of CCS-UPF, explains that: “we are often not aware of the impact that gender issues have on the entire research process. From the formulation of the research questions, the design of the project, the selection of the sample or the presentation of the results to the decisions about authorship”. 

It is an open access multimedia guide. The first part defines key concepts such as gender, sex, gender gap or gender bias. The second part explains what it means to research from a gender perspective and what actions we can carry out. Finally, it takes the point of view of communication as a key tool to promote gender-sensitive research. 

The guide combines the text with 5 videos that collect testimonies from four UPF researchers: Tània Verge, Elena Martín, Olga Valverde and Helena Coll-Vinent. One of the most common mistakes is drawing conclusions for the entire population from a biased sample. It is very common, for example, to think that the "gold standard" is a sample composed only of men (or of males, in the case of animal experimentation). In one of these videos, Tània Verge, Director of the Equality Unit at UPF, warns of the risk of “generalizing to the rest of the population those conclusions that have been obtained only from the experiences of men”.

There are more voices demanding that the gender perspective be incorporated into research.

According to Olga Valverde, head of the Behavioral Neurobiology Research Group at UPF, there are more voices demanding that the gender perspective be incorporated into research, including the high-impact scientific journals themselves, "firstly because we will improve knowledge and the results we obtain from the studies”, he says. She also points out that the incorporation of women throughout the research process increases knowledge, provides other points of view and a broader perspective. 

Elena Martín, researcher at the Neuropharmacology-Neurophar group at UPF believes that one of the most important things is the leadership of women in science, "it is necessary for women to play a more prominent role in positions of power that involve making decisions" . On the other hand, she also highlights the importance of family conciliation and denounces the fact that the researchers often consider having or not having children, or unfairly postponing maternity. The purpose of the decision is to avoid the consequences that a break in scientific production may have on the evaluation of their professional career, which can be decisive in accessing a job or promotion in their career.

Reducing the effect of maternity leave on the evaluation of scientific production, economic aid for family reconciliation or specific training programs in leadership for young female researchers.

In addition to highlighting the importance of integrating the gender perspective into research questions to gain greater knowledge and to detect where and when deviations occur, the guide provides resources and recommendations in both directions. Measures can be taken at the project or institutional level. For example, at the project level we can ensure that the work team is diverse, that the sample is not biased, that we integrate the values collected about bias and gender and take them into account in the interpretation, etc. For its part, an example of institutional action to ensure greater equity in access to research positions or decisions affecting promotion is that carried out by the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences in the context of the María de Maeztu program. Some of the actions are: reducing the effect of maternity leave on the evaluation of scientific production, economic aid for family reconciliation or specific training programs in leadership for young female researchers. 

The guide ends by showing what can be done from scientific communication and proposes some recommendations made from the Quiral Report 2018, the Global Media Monitoring Projects 2015 and Gender Indicators for the UNESCO 2014 media. This guide has been produced thanks to to the financing of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, within the framework of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit project of the Pompeu Fabra University with reference FCT-17-12712.

It is available on the CCS-UPF website. You can also download it by clicking here.