Equal opportunities

Gender equality

TU Dortmund University takes special care to ensure that persons of any gender with comparable qualifications are given equal opportunities. This is achieved, on the one hand, by setting equal opportunity quotas for professorships in all departments, by selecting committee members and reviewers with as much gender parity as possible, and - in departments in which women are underrepresented - by actively researching and approaching suitable female candidates in female scientist databases. On the other hand, the appointment committees are responsible for evaluating applicants in a gender- and diversity-appropriate manner. This means that they take into account in their evaluation that career paths may differ based on gender or for other personal or family reasons. For example, periods of maternity leave, raising and education of children, or caring for dependent family members must be specifically taken into account when evaluating scientific performance. In any case, excellent scientific performance remains the main criterion for the selection and subsequent appointment at TU Dortmund University.

Further information on gender equality, diversity and equal opportunities can be found on the website of the Staff Unit Equal Opportunities Family and Diversity of TU Dortmund University, the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, HRK), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW (Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, MKW).

Freedom from discrimination

TU Dortmund University is particularly concerned that the committee’s opinion-making process and the evaluation of the candidates in appointment procedures are not impaired by prejudice, conscious or even subconscious discrimination, and that the principles laid down in the Basic Law (Grundgesetz, GG), the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Education Act (Gesetz über die Hochschulen des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, HG), the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG) and the North Rhine-Westphalia State Equal Opportunities Act (Gesetz zur Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern für das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen respectively Landesgleichstellungsgesetz, LGG NRW) are properly observed. In addition to the individual members of the committee who are sensitized to these matters, several central units also monitor this, which are the Equal Opportunity Officers, the Representative of Severely Disabled Persons, the according Appointments Commissioners and the Staff Unit Appointment Management.

This means that only objective criteria serve as the basis for decisions on the selection and a subsequent appointment to TU Dortmund University. Age, disability, ethnic or social origin, gender, religion or ideology, or even sexual identity is irrelevant for the selection decision.

Information on gender bias and homosocial co-optation

In appointment procedures, there are in particular two phenomena which can influence the decision about candidates in a gender-relevant way: gender bias and homosocial co-optation. Against this background, actors in appointment procedures also have the responsibility to check their personal decision-making behavior and that of the appointment committee to see whether the candidates have been assessed in a gender-sensitive way and whether the best have been found for the appointment list.

Gender Bias

In the general use of English language, a bias is regarded as a distorted perception, a prejudice. Gender bias thus describes distortions in perception or biases against women or men on the basis of their gender. In appointment procedures, gender bias can have a positive or negative impact on the evaluation or review of performance. Effective role models and stereotypes, in combination with gender, usually have a subconscious effect on a judgment. Studies on the topic of performance evaluation and gender have shown, for example, that in an experimental set-up representations of female figures were perceived to be smaller than representations of male figures, although all figures in identical surroundings were of the same size. Another study showed that identical curriculum vitae (CV) or resumes were evaluated differently by test subjects depending on whether they were submitted under a male or female name. Significantly more subjects of both genders rated the performance of the men as better and developed the tendency to rather hire the man than the woman, despite identical resumes. (Landeskonferenz der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten, LaKoG, 2011:18ff)

Homosocial co-optation

Another mechanism that has a gender-specific effect is so-called homosocial co-optation. Homosocial co-optation refers to the tendency to include primarily those members in an existing network who are considered to be "socially similar." Social similarity can be given or sought in many ways. In addition to characteristics such as social milieu, ethnicity or even scientific community, gender is a relevant criterion. The fact that personnel decisions are influenced by social similarities does not presuppose a strategic decision to specifically exclude women. Rather, the structural dominance of men in organizations combined with the (often subconscious) practice of homosocial co-optation, which is neither limited to organizations nor to men but follows a general pattern of social proximity, leads to the persistence of a male-dominated structure. (Wissenschaftsrat 2007:23ff)

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