Let’s Talk About Money: Third-Party Funds and Archaeological Gender Research in Germany

In the last decades, the German government launched various measures to promote more equality in science and the humanities. One of these measures is the special equality budget for research centres funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). This paper will present the funding possibilities for archaeological projects in Germany with a focus on the link between support criteria, on the one hand, and equality measures and gender research, on the other. The proximate question is, then, if and how such equality measures required of foundations have an effect on research work – for example, archaeological research projects. The visible range of measures runs from the acceptance of childcare programmes in academia to workshops on academic labour conditions, including women and gender studies. The current situation regarding the financing of projects on gender studies (in prehistory) will be discussed for comparative purposes. The paper provides an overview and examples of the kinds of projects primarily being funded, e.g. research projects, conferences, publications and exhibitions, and what this signifies for archaeological research strategies and for a sustainable impact of prehistoric gender studies.