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Gender equality

For USC, equality between men and women is a transversal goal in the university’s three missions: education, research and transfer. In order to make this effective, the university has had specific action plans since 2009; it has a Gender Equality Office, and the commitment to equality between men and women is explicitly stated in the USC bylaws and in its Strategic Plan.

USC's commitment to equality guides the institutional culture and is one of the pillars of our social responsibility model. Since the first Strategic Plan for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women (PEIOMH in Spanish) was approved in 2009, specific actions have been carried out in six areas: Institutional policies; Teaching, training and research; Presence, promotion and representation; Responsible conciliation; Harassment and sexist attitudes; and Social and health conditions at work.

The third PEIOMH covers the 2021-2024 period; it builds on the accumulated experience and results of the previous plans, and has been prepared through a comprehensive participatory process. It maintains, with some nuances, the six areas of action mentioned above, and includes actions to strengthen the Gender Equality Office, a key department to raise awareness among the university community of the challenges still pending so as to achieve equality.

The Gender Equality Office (OIX In Galician) plays an essential role in the development and application of the PEIOMH, with the responsibility of leading or actively participating in most of the communication and training actions on gender issues aimed at the university community, from the dissemination of the Plan itself to the preparation of a guide on non-sexist language or the creation of a website on good practices for the inclusion of a gender perspective in teaching. The 2021-2024 Plan also foresees the reinforcement of the Office's team with the incorporation of specialised professionals.

The 3rd Strategic Plan for Equal Opportunities between Men and Women (PEIOMH) of the USC is based on updating the university's equality diagnosis and on the results of the assessment from the second PEIOMH, which made the needs and inequalities still present visible. The Plan has arisen from a comprehensive participatory consensus and a commitment to the inclusion of all groups in the university community, so that their characteristics and needs are taken into account. According to these criteria, the Plan takes into account six areas of action (Institutional culture; Teaching, research and transfer; Presence, promotion and representation; Co-responsible conciliation; Harassment and gender violence; and Socio-health conditions at work), nine general goals, 21 specific goals and 85 actions, each of which is associated with indicators that allow their implementation to be assessed, while serving as a guide for the adoption of decisions to improve their development.

Download the 3rd Strategic Plan of Equal Opportunities for Men and Women

One of the areas prioritised by PEIOMH is the co-responsible reconciliation of personal, family and work life. For this, actions are planned to disseminate both the applicable regulations and the resources that the USC has implemented to promote work-life balance, especially aimed at USC staff with dependent children.

Learn more about  USC initiatives for the reconciliation of work and family life

The contents of this page were updated on 08.04.2022.