On October 29, the GenTIC team held its annual research seminar, which focused on the challenges and resistances to gender inequalities and intersectional power relations in education, research, and innovation. This post summarizes the highlights of an enriching day of discussions across eleven presentations where we shared our recent findings and ongoing projects aimed at promoting inclusive gender equity, reflecting on persistent stereotypes and structural barriers, and applying a feminist, intersectional, and decolonial lens to understand and end inequalities.
Gender intersectional approaches to technology and the decolonisation of knowledge
Ana María Noguera, a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher at GenTIC, opened the first slot of the seminar with a presentation on Indigenous data sovereignty, governance, and the decolonisation of knowledge, a topic she addresses in a scoping review in the INDIWOMINT project. The researcher reflected on the forms of data extractivism from Indigenous communities and the limited attention given to the effective implementation of Indigenous data sovereignty in public policies. She also highlighted how the CARE Principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) complement the existing FAIR Principles to ensure that data governance respects Indigenous rights and values. Marie-Monique Schaper, a lecturer at the University of Lleida and a member of the GRIHO group, presented the work process for creating the EDUGENIA guide within the ACTFEM TOOLKIT project, an initiative derived from a collaboration between GenTIC, GRIHO, and the ACTFEM project by PlàuditeTeatre. EDUGENIA, which will be published soon, offers educational strategies for critical learning with Artificial Intelligence in secondary education and was developed collaboratively through a co-creation process involving both students and teachers.
The risks associated with the Femtech industry for women’s rights were the focus of Luana Mathias Souto, leader of the MSCA project THELMA. The researcher reviewed the reported impacts of Femtech apps designed for tracking women’s reproductive health data, such as gender biases and enforcement of gender binary stereotypes, exposition to potential manipulation and behavioural control by tech companies, unwanted pregnancies, and use of users’ data in criminal cases. In the THELMA project, Luana Mathias Souto outlines a proposal for a European regulatory framework for the Femtech industry designed to be gender-sensitive and social-justice oriented, as well as developing strategies to foster community engagement and end-users’ empowerment. Mónica Grau Sarabia, a visiting postdoctoral researcher at GenTIC, introduced the concept of technogendering, a term developed to explore the interplay of gender, technology, and work within digital contexts. Among the main contributions of this approach for research on the digital economy, Mónica Grau Sarabia highlighted that it connects fragmented perspectives of different academic disciplines, enables the examination of how gender, technology, and work are mutually shaped through material and discursive practices, and helps to reveal the systematically obscured work that sustains digital economies.
Challenging gender stereotypes and promoting well-being in education
The second part of the seminar was dedicated to various research studies linked to the HORIGESTEM project, coordinated by the director of GenTIC, Milagros Sáinz, as Principal Investigator. Milagros Sáinz presented the results of a quasi-experimental study that analysed the effect of a female role-model intervention on secondary students’ future STEM choices through changes in their stereotypes about women’s abilities in mathematics, as well as their self-concept in mathematics and their perception of the utility value of this subject. Findings confirmed the relevance of conducting female role model interventions with both male and female students, although the effectiveness of the intervention seems to be limited and, in some cases, favoured males’ STEM motivation and STEM choices. Miruna Bivol, a PhD Candidate at GenTIC, presented preliminary results from a scoping review that explores how well-being is defined and applied in mentoring-based STEM interventions for adolescents, and if the intersection of gender and migrant background is considered in these initiatives. The researcher pointed out that in 14 analysed interventions, no explicit definition for well-being was provided, and the intersection between gender and migrant background was not addressed. To conclude, she also suggested some insights to address the key gaps identified in mentoring interventions in STEM.
Rocío Segura, a PhD Candidate at the University of Granada, shared the conclusions of a study she has conducted within the HORIGESTEM project to analyse how primary education students perceive gender inequalities in their school and personal contexts. The results from several discussion groups with 71 boys and girls with an average age of 10, showed that participants, especially girls, had a high perception of gender injustices. In mixed groups, more indifference was shown, whereas in all-girl groups they tended to express their opinions about gender inequalities more freely. Irune Ramírez Achutegui presented her doctoral research project, aimed at challenging harmful gender stereotypes in children and tackling the backlash they suffer due to counter-stereotypical professional and domestic role aspirations. The researcher builds upon her previous Master’s degree project, in which she highlighted the need for including domestic and caregiving roles in interventions promoting girls in STEM and enhancing this dimension in the family life expectations of boys.
Keys for inclusive Gender Equality Plans success and failure
The final slot of the seminar was dedicated to the empirical research of case studies that the GenTIC team has conducted within the Horizon Europe project INSPIRE to explore the key configurations of Gender Equality Plans (GEP) success and failure in research and innovation organizations. Aran Romero Moreno, a postdoctoral researcher at GenTIC and INSPIRE Project Manager, shared his reflections on a pioneering plan for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) developed by a medium-sized higher education institution in Spain. Among the factors that increase the impact of this initiative, he highlighted the multiplicity of actors involved and its deductive-inductive, trial-and-error approach. On the other hand, he reflected on the obstacles to including race/ethnicity within this EDI Plan, stressing how this axis of inequality is essential for a truly intersectional approach. Rachel Palmén, a senior researcher at GenTIC and coordinator of the INSPIRE project, presented the conclusions drawn from 35 case studies across European research organizations, in which more than 200 interviews and documentary analysis have been carried out to develop a systematic account of the enabling and hindering factors influencing the impact of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). Specifically, Rachel Palmén reflected on the crucial role of comprehensive data collection and analysis systems and how they must effectively feed into decision-making strategies to drive real organizational change.
To conclude, Jörg Müller, a GenTIC senior researcher who leads these INSPIRE project case studies, reflected on the crucial role of resistance to organizational change. This resistance, he noted, includes individual attitudes such as denial of the need for change and the refusal to accept responsibility or implement agreed-upon measures. Jörg Müller also highlighted the importance of social status in understanding how gender inequalities are reproduced and justified. “Gender status beliefs – those associated with prestige, respect, and esteem in the eyes of others – give men an advantage over women who are just as powerful or hold the same (decision-making) position”, he affirmed.
The director of GenTIC, Milagros Sáinz, closed this annual seminar by stressing the variety of topics and disciplinary perspectives discussed during the sessions to address gender and social inequalities, and thanked all participants for their insightful contributions to these urgent debates.