The degrees and master's degrees in the Catalan universities will include gender perspective starting from academic year 2020-2021, in an initiative never seen in Europe before

22/01/2019

The degrees and master's degrees in the Catalan universities will include gender perspective starting from academic year 2020-2021, thanks to the joint initiative by the Secretariat of Universities and Research, through the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (CIC), and the Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitaria de Catalunya (AQU). It is a measure never seen in Europe before, which will mean that degree and master's degree studies going through an evaluation process will have to include this perspective in teaching guides, subjects' programmes, curricula and methodologies, among others, in order to pass the process.
 
In this sense, AQU Catalunya has already handed to the universities the document Marc general per a la incorporació de la perspectiva de gènere en la docència universitària, which establishes guidelines and recommendations to facilitate the effective addition of gender perspective in teaching in all the areas of knowledge.
 
"It is important for teaching in Catalan universities to take into account both the needs and interests of women and men, at that there is a contribution from universities to get rid of the barriers, often invisible, sustaining gender inequality", said the general secretary of the CIC, Lluís Baulenas, who reminded that the AQU's framework document was born from the initiative of the CIC's Dones i Ciència Commission. 
 
This measure fulfills article 28.1 of the Catalan Law for effective equality between women and men (17/2015), which points out that gender perspective and studies on women should be promoted and included in the university studies of all fields and that this will be taken into account during accreditations.
 
The addition of gender perspective will be carried out in all the degrees and master's degrees of the five areas of knowledge: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Sciencies, Health Sciences, and Engineering and Architecture.
 
The document by AQU Catalunya defines exactly the mening of acquiring the transversal gender competence, that is, of developing the ability to evaluate sex-based and gender-based inequalities in order to find solutions.
 
Gender perspective makes it possible to get a deeper understanding of the needs, the behaviours and the attitudes of population as a whole, running away from both partial interpretations deriving from man as a universal subject, and essentialisms about men and women. At the same time, teaching with gender perspective also boosts the students' critical though, given that it provides them with new tools to identify gender stereotypes, norms and social roles which will allow them to prevent gender blindness in their future professional career.
 
The document is mainly addressed to the bodies and centres responsible for the planning, the management and the evaluation of teaching quality in universities.
 
The document has been created by the workgroup coordinated by Glòria González (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Tània Verge (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), and formed by Eulalia Pérez (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), Maria Teresa Ruiz (Universitat d'Alacant), Inés Sánchez (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Encarna Bas (Universidad de Murcia), Maria Àngels Gensana (Institut Català de les Dones) and Eva Benito (AQU Catalunya). Likewise, the creation of the AQU's framework document has been based on the report "La perspectiva de gènere en docència i recerca a les universitats" by the Vives Network.