The Enactment of Gender Equality Plans in Academia. Insights from the Italian Context

The European Union has been advocating for Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in academic and research organizations since 2015, recognizing them as a criterion for eligibility in Horizon Europe calls for research and innovation. In compliance with Decree No. 2/2019, and in line with EU-COM No.152/2020, Italian universities are required to adopt a GEP, which identifies the strategy of individual universities for gender equality. Consequently, most Italian universities should have implemented their first GEP edition in the last few years. However, despite the growing attention to gender issues in academia, studies on GEP implementation and content are still scarce. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the implementation of GEPs in Italian universities by responding to the following research questions: (RQ1) What is the state of the art regarding GEPs in Italian universities? (RQ2) What thematic areas and key actions are included in the GEPs to identify and address gender inequalities and bias? The study focuses on the total population of 67 Italian public universities. Results highlight that most universities have adopted their first GEP. Nonetheless, there is a lack of homogeneity in terms of conciseness, completeness, and compliance with the guidelines provided by CRUI (the Conference of Italian University Rectors) for the drafting of GEPs. Universities easily disclose information on goals, actions, beneficiaries, and institutions but seem to have difficulties in identifying the subjects operationally involved in the implementation plan, the financial resources, and the expected results of the policies adopted for each action. In addition, our study has found that universities are acknowledging the significance of promoting work-life balance and providing family care assistance. The “Work-life balance and organizational culture” is in fact the most highly developed strategic area in all the GEPs analyzed.