One of the characteristics of UPF is its strong commitment to the effective equality of women and men and, over the years, to develop this commitment a structure relating to this issue has been created within the framework of the institution’s social engagement policies.

At the start of the programme of activities on occasion of International Women’s Day, organized by the University, continuing until 10 March 2018, we are talking to Tània Verge, director of the Equality Unit, and Lluïsa Rojas, a UPF Equality agent, so that they can explain what has been done so far and the projects for the future.

Tània Verge Mestre (@taniaverge), born in Reus (Baix Camp, Tarragona) in 1978, graduated in Political and Administration Sciences (2000) at UPF, where she is currently a senior lecturer with the Department of Political and Social Sciences. In 2014 she was appointed delegate to the rector for Gender Equality Policies, until she was appointed director of the Equality Unit (2017).

Lluïsa Rojas Diago (Barcelona, 1964) has a degree in Geography and History from the University of Barcelona (1993). That same year she began to work at UPF as a member of the administration and services staff at the Business School. Later, she was involved in the Administration of the Mar campus (2001) and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (2004), until she was appointed as a University Equality agent in 2017.

—What type of activities have been prepared this year at UPF to commemorate International Women’s Day on 8 March?

Lluïsa Rojas (LR): On our website you can find all of the activities scheduled by the Equality Unit for Equality Week, co-organized with student associations, as well as activities organized by the associations themselves. Once again, if the University is part of society, there must be a place for social debate. The Equality Unit has co-organized round tables and discussions on the reasons why the feminist movement has called a strike on an international scale on 8 March (labour, student, consumer and care strike), concerning the glass ceiling, about the lack of gender perspective in audiovisual and cultural productions, and about gender perspective in education.

—From the first UPF Equality agent (2007) to the creation of the Equality Unit (2017), how has the structure evolved in this area and for what purpose this been so?

Tània Verge (TV): There has been a gradual evolution in the structure of equality within the University. The creation of the Department of Social Responsibility (Office of the Vice-rector for Social Responsibility and Promotion, since 2017) marks a turning point in the desire to give greater weight and centrality to gender equality policies. Having since had an equality agent among the administration and services staff (PAS) and a person responsible for the strategic management from among the teaching and research staff (PDI) has allowed us to cover more areas and better develop the advisory role to the governing bodies of the University and promote and coordinate actions and programmes on equality. In addition, in 2017 the regulation of the Equality Unit was approved, thus culminating the process of institutionalization as a specialized university service. With the start of this academic year, we have opened an office to attend to the university community (on the ground floor of the Roger de Llúria building, on the Ciutadella campus).

—How does the University work on gender equality policies?

(LR): Universities are part of society; if society has sexist practices, gender stereotypes and implicit biases, it is logical to consider that these elements will also be present at the university. Therefore equality policies are cross-cutting and are promoted on an equal footing with actions and programmes for development by the various bodies, services and academic and administrative units. They affect teaching, research, the recruitment policy, the services attending to the university community, raising awareness of existing inequalities, and the prevention and detection of and action against gender violence. Its implementation requires a change in the organizational culture, with new approaches and specialized training, so progress tends to be slow and gradual.

—The University has the Isabel de Villena Plan, which will be updated this year with the second edition.  What goals have already been achieved with first Plan and what developments will the second introduce?

TV: There is a need for a critical but also a fair assessment of the first Plan, approved in a context in which it was imposed by law, but there was no guidance or instructions or practical experience, not in the public or in the private sector. The first plan allowed for the first time putting equality policies on the University agenda; but some shortcomings in its implementation have been detected. It has been a learning process. We have learned that we must begin with a complete diagnosis of the situation, in which not only are the imbalances in presence measured, but also the biases in the processes are analysed. We have worked on this in the second Plan which, in addition, increases the number of strategic areas of action and defines precise indicators to monitor the degree of compliance. Soon there will be a consultation process among the entire university community to present the new plan and collect feedback on it. With regard to new areas of activity, most prominently we are incorporating gender perspective in education and the fight against gender-based violence. Another novelty is the fact that the second Plan is based on a definition of gender equality that includes both the effective equality between women and men and diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

—You have mentioned gender-based violence a couple of times.  How present is it at the University?

LR: Different studies show that gender-based violence or LGBTIphobia are phenomena that are not unrelated to universities. As we were saying, the university is part of the society. To channel queries and complaints, the University has so far had two protocols for action, one addressing students, and the other, PAS and PDI. Soon, we will have a single protocol for the entire university community that will include behaviours regarding gender-based violence, homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. Queries and complaints can be submitted to the Equality Unit both by the person affected and by any member of the university community who has information about the situation. We ensure confidentiality, data protection and proactivity in the procedure. The Gender Equality Unit also provides psychological support services for people who have suffered harassment or discrimination within or outside the university. Eradicating these types of violence also involves raising awareness and training. Each year, we organize three Equality Weeks with different activities and workshops aimed at the entire university community (25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 8 March, International Women’s Day; and 17 May, International Day against LGBTIphobia). Also, the CLIK, the SACU and the PAS service organize various training sessions throughout the year in this area.

—In general terms, how is gender perspective being introduced in teaching?

TV: Following the legal mandates on universities, science and equality, as well as European recommendations, different actions have been carried out. First of all, the teaching innovation projects by the CLIK incorporate gender perspective as a cross-cutting criterion in calls. There have been various projects to detect the degree of its introduction in the different studies. And a project is currently under way coordinated by the Equality Unit with the participation of all academic coordination units (UCA) to develop resources that will facilitate the incorporation by the PDI of gender perspective into the teaching plans. Secondly, since four years ago, the FIDU (initial training programme for new teachers) has incorporated a specific module on gender perspective, and within the continuing education programme different workshops and exchanges of experiences have been offered. Also, this is the second year of the Viquidones UPF open space, with the aim of reducing the gender gap in Wikipedia. However, despite all of these actions, progress is slow. We can see this with the #AmbPerspectiva social networks campaign (Twitter and Instagram), which has been promoted by the Equality Unit, in which the student demands more effective incorporation of gender perspective and in more subjects.

—Why do you say that progress is slow?

TV: On the one hand, although these recommendations and legal guidelines have been in force for more than ten years, most of the PDI were trained in a context in which long degrees and doctoral degrees were gender blind. On the other hand, sometimes gender perspective is confounded with a kind of education in citizenship It is true that gender equality is a matter of social justice but, applied to teaching (or to research), it has to do with its quality and social relevance. It promotes the development of critical thinking and enhances professional practice. Gender perspective allows avoiding bias and not falling into offering partial explanations, as occurs when the experiences of a part of the population are overgeneralized as a whole; it helps to understand the potentially different needs, behaviours and attitudes of women and men, either as a result of biological issues or social and cultural constructs; and it helps question the rules, stereotypes and the gender roles that prevail in society. In short, it develops the ability to assess inequalities on the grounds of sex, gender, and sexual orientation and to design solutions. The way to implement gender perspective must be defined by each study. For this reason, we encourage teaching staff to participate in the training courses and in the spaces for reflection offered by the University in this regard.

—How can the members of the University community help to promote effective equality?

LR: We are all jointly responsible for building a society that is free of gender-based violence and LGBTIphobia, in which there is effective equality between women and men. Making the University a space where everyone can live and develop freely is a collective task. Firstly, we encourage the entire university community to participate in the awareness and training activities on offer at UPF. You can’t act against inequalities when they are invisible. We have all socialized in a sexist society; so, we must make an effort to identify which of our behaviours and attitudes or those of the people around us are sexist. We also ask the whole university community to adopt a more proactive attitude against violence. We must not ignore any violent or discriminatory situation.

—Are the new generations more aware of inequalities?

LR: We might sometimes think that the progress made in gender equality is linear, that progress is clear and the new generation will bring by itself the disappearance of inequalities. It’s not true. For example, in the area of violence, the incidence among the under thirties age group is similar to that of other age brackets. New technologies and social networks have given rise to new forms of control and harassment and sexist attitudes are greatly present. The patriarchy reproduces itself because it has numerous socialization agents (family, school, communication media, job market, etc.). At the same time, it is difficult for younger people to be aware of all inequalities when they still haven’t experienced ma(pa)ternity, they haven’t entered the job market, etc.

TV: That explains why new generations often fall into the so-called “fallacy of equality”. Nevertheless, in respect of other generations, the youngest show a greater degree of awareness of social roles and binary, opposing “black and white” roles around masculinity and femininity, and around sexuality. They also have a more active, activist attitude. In the years that I studied at the University, I don’t recall any action around special dates like 8 March. However, at these times student associations and groups are organizing numerous activities of awareness-raising, self-training and denunciation.

—Will you strike on 8 March?

LR: Yes, absolutely. We have so many reasons to stop and stop the world it would be odd not to do so. We need to make women’s work in all areas as visible as possible. We will not only strike at work but also at home or in the study to protest against all of the unjust and outdated circumstances that surround the life of most women still in the 21^st century.

TV: We have more than enough reasons to back this strike: greater job insecurity, the feminization of poverty, the lack of co-responsibility and social recognition for caring, the glass ceiling, the wage gap, gender-based violence, The objectification of women, restrictions on the right to the ownership of one’s own body, the “invisibilization” of the contributions by women in all spheres of knowledge. The inequality suffered by women in all jobs and spaces is blatant.