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A

Antidiscrimination

Antidiscrimination is the active proceeding (political, institutional, societal and personal) against discrimination. It is the conscious reflection on causes, impacts, and consequences of discrimination

„audit family friendly university“ („audit familiengerechte hochschule“)

The Hertie Foundation has developed a management instrument for a family oriented development of work and study conditions at universities. The audit comprises nine different fields of action; in each case existing offers are evaluated and new strategies and measures are identified. RWTH Aachen University has started with the process and pursues the obtainment of the basic certification by berufundfamilie gGmbH (http://www.beruf-und-familie.de).

C

Change Management

Change Management monitors change processes within an organisation. It is a discipline of organisational development. Just as organisational development, change management focuses on alteration processes especially in human resources.

Culture

The entirety of spiritual and artistic manifestations that are consciously and unconsciously acquired by a group of people. These behavioural patterns can be found in languages, art, customs, rituals, festivities, religion and food. Culture is not fixed or restricted to nationality or country of residence; it is constantly reshaping and changing due to globalisation and immigration processes.

D

Discrimination

(1) Direct Discrimination: Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than another in a comparable situation because of their gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. An example of direct discrimination is a job advert that explicitly discourages disabled people from applying for a position. Source.

(2) Indirect Discrimination: Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice disadvantages people on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, unless the practice can be objectively justified by a legitimate aim. An example of indirect discrimination would be a language proficiency test as a requirement for all job applicants even though the mastery of this particular language is not required for the job. Exempt from indirect discrimination are cases in which relevant rules, criteria or procedures are justified through a legitimate objective (e.g. model and actor jobs). Source.

(3) Structural Discrimination: Structural discrimination occurs within social structures, such as working practices, agreements, legislation and services. It is the unequal treatment of certain individuals or groups which is deeply rooted in social structures and routines of societal institutions. A practical example could be the lack of interpreting services in a health care centre which prevents the realisation of rights for a patient with impaired hearing. People from lower social classes are often excluded through existing structures from education, housing or the labour market. Structural Discrimination also takes place if certain groups of the population work above the average in the low-wage labour market or if a significant discrepancy of educational successes exists between students with and without immigrant background. Source.

(4) Multiple Discrimination: The unequal treatment on the grounds of several different characteristics of discrimination at individual level is considered as multiple discrimination. A person can simultaneously belong to several disadvantaged groups and might therefore be discriminated against on these grounds. In this sense women can also represent an ethnic minority group or a religion, an ethnic minority group member can also be disabled, or a person representing a sexual minority can also be an aged person. Reasons for discrimination are often not easy to determine and seldom to be traced back to only one characteristic.

Diversity

In a socio-political sense Diversity stands for a conscious way of dealing with diversity within the society. As an approach of positive action Diversity stands for the recognition and appreciation of similarities and differences between individuals and groups.

Origins of the Diversity concept

Diversity has evolved in the course of the Feminist, Civil Rights and Gay Rights Movement in the 1970s in the USA. The striving of minority groups for equality resulted in the fact that companies and public institutions started to initiate and implement programmes to promote people from minority background. Several law enforcements (e.g. Affirmative Action or Equal Opportunity) paved the way for today’s management tools designed to ensure equal opportunities. Without existing law enforcements Diversity as a concept of positive action would not exist.

Objective of Diversity

The main goal of Diversity is the endorsement of an environment that acknowledges and appreciates differences and similarities likewise and raises awareness for unequal treatment and excluding behaviour.

Importance of Diversity

Managing Diversity is the answer to a rapidly changing social environment, namely demographic change, globalisation and individualisation of private and work life. In general, areas of application comprise economical (Globalisation and EU policies, internationalisation of the labour market and increasing heterogeneity of customer groups) as well as societal aspects (increasing ethnic and cultural diversity in Germany, Antidiscrimination Law, public sector, antidiscrimination work, education, as well as various political areas such as migration and integration politics).

Dimensions of Diversity

The personality of a person is influenced by primary and secondary Diversity dimensions in the Diversity concept. The organisational dimension is important in a work or university environment (on the basis of Rowe und Gardenschwartz , Diverse Teams at Work, Irwin 1995).
Primary Dimension: Race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social class and physical ability.
Secondary Dimension: Work experience, educational background, religion/spirituality, recreational activities, personal habits, income, geographic location, marital status, parental status and appearance.
Organisational Dimension: Management status, functional level, work content/field, division/department/faculty, seniority and work location.

Diversity and Intersectionality

Diversity is a holistic approach towards equality; it includes every facet of an individual, rather than focusing on binary characteristics such as gender or ethnicity. The individual is seen from a multidimensional perspective. Through this comprehensive perspective it is possible to get a more complex picture of a person. In this sense women not only identify themselves as female but depending on the situation, also define themselves through other characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, social status, or sexuality.

Different approaches:

Diversity as an instrument to establish a non-discriminatory organisational environment

The main objective is to create an organisational environment which allows everyone to develop to the fullest potential and in which a culture of respect and appreciation prevails. Diversity in the sense of plurality stands for the phenomenon of a diverse workforce. Diversity in the sense of Diversity Management stands for the conscious and proactive approach towards Diversity within the organisation. Therefore Diversity Management pursues the goal of a non-discriminatory work environment for every employee in which their personality is being recognized and appreciated in all aspects. Nobody should be excluded on the grounds of certain traits simply because they do not represent the majority of the society.

Diversity as a management tool

As a management tool Diversity comprises the entirety of all measures which lead to the fact that Diversity is being recognized and appreciated within an organisation and used as a positive contribution for overall success. Similarities and Differences are being seen from a resource based view.

Diversity as socio-political approach

The acknowledgement and appreciation of similarities and differences (within organisations or societies) lies in the focus of the Diversity concept. Diversity stands for a comprehensive process which recognizes similarities as well as differences between people as chance and potential for themselves and the society/organisation. Thus Diversity Management refers to a positive and proactive approach towards similarities and differences within an organisation or society.

Gender & Diversity at RWTH Aachen

As an important part of RWTH Aachen’s People Policy, Gender and Diversity Management describes the entirety of all measures which lead to the acknowledgement and appreciation of Diversity as a positive contribution to RWTH Aachen’s overall success. Our Gender and Diversity Management approach stands for a comprehensive, inclusive and transparent process which conceives the Diversity between people as a chance and potential for themselves and the university.

Importance of Gender and Diversity Management for the university

The acknowledgement and appreciation of different perspectives and talents will result in more flexibility, productivity, improved problem solving and decision-making and in an enhanced ability to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and student body. Diversity enriches the scientific experience and offers distinct opportunities to face future academic challenges.

Diversity Awareness

Diversity awareness is a form of social competence which refers to an adequate and sensitive behaviour towards Diversity. It enables people to stay objective, unbiased, respectful, flexible and empathetic in a diverse crossover situation. These situations can happen when one is in contact with other cultures, religions or the opposite sex.

Diversity Training

Participants of Diversity trainings are being sensitised on different aspects of Diversity. The main objective is to raise awareness among participants concerning inequalities and mechanism of exclusion within themselves and the society and to provide them with instruments to counteract these mechanisms appropriately. The imparting of certain social skills is an essential part of a Diversity training and crucial for an equal opportunity oriented exposure to Diversity. Topics that can be covered in Diversity trainings include racism, xenophobia, sexism, islamophobia or homophobia.

Dual Career Service

The Dual Career Service is an offer for high qualified scientists and their families. RWTH Aachen aims to attract and retain high qualified national and international scientists and their families through individual consulting and customised offers. The office at RWTH Aachen provides an employment service for interested partners, a web-based Welcome Centre serving as an orientation guide, and support in all questions concerning moving and settling in Aachen.

E

Empowerment

As a strategy approach empowerment pursues the goal to deconstruct and change power relations within the society by strengthening and promoting competencies of members from minority groups (e.g. women, people of colour, LGBT, etc.).

Equal Opportunities

The principle of equal opportunities propagates the prohibition of any kind of discrimination in all areas of economical, social, cultural and familial life. All members of society should have the same rights regarding living and education conditions and opportunities. How and if a society realises equal opportunities can be deduced from the degree of gender equality, from the working and living conditions or the access to educational facilities of minorities.

Equal Opportunity Commissioner

The Equal Opportunity Commissioner and her deputies represent the interests of all female status groups at the university. They are the main contact in questions concerning gender equality at the university. The commissioner and her deputies take part in every personnel, organisational and social measure which addresses gender equality and work life balance. Furthermore the Equal Opportunity Commissioner advises and supports employees in individual cases, especially in areas of professional promotion, elimination of inequalities and questions regarding the reconciliation of work and family life. The Equal Opportunity Office also offers support for female students regarding gender specific problems during their studies.

Equal Opportunity Laws

The purpose of the laws is to ensure the realisation of equality between women and men. According to the requirement of these laws and other directives regarding gender equality, women are encouraged and promoted in order to abrogate existing discrimination. Another objective is the improvement of work life balance of both sexes. Furthermore women are protected against discrimination as for example in job advertisements that address only male candidates. In Germany there is a distinction between state equality laws and federal equality laws. There are no equality laws in the economy.
Equal Opportunity Laws NRW

Equality Politics

Equality politics aim to achieve more justice between the sexes. The equal participation of women and men in professional life, the reduction of discrimination and a self-determined lifestyle equally belong to the main objectives of equality politics.

Equality of Treatment

The main objective is to provide discriminated groups a comparably self-determined and non-discriminatory life. Living conditions and opportunities of marginalised groups are supposed to improve through specific measures, and in the sense of social justice should be adjusted to the living conditions of the majority.

EU-Antidiscrimination Directives

The main goal of these directives is to prohibit and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sex, ethnicity, physical ability/disability, age, religion or belief and sexual identity. The law ranges among other things over the areas of work life, labour market, education, social security, contracting and housing. For more information please click here.

G

Gender

The term describes the socially and culturally shaped gender roles of women and men. These are different from our biological sex, trained and therefore changeable.

Gender Awareness

Gender awareness refers to the acknowledgement and appreciation of diverse lifestyles of women and men regarding different chances and possibilities, objectives and potentials. It is essential to successively deconstruct these inequalities through gender conscious acting.

Gender Bias

Gender bias describes a male dominated paradigm and gender specific prejudice at all levels of society. If a female applicant is negatively evaluated on the basis of low average expectations towards female applicants (assuming for example that women are less productive than men, or more absent from work due to family responsibilities), she is the victim of a gender bias.

Gender Budgeting

Gender budgeting focuses on the development of a gender equal financial household. This method employs instruments such as a gender specific use of potential analysis and gender differentiated analysis of the nature of expenses.

Gender Neutral Language

Language is neither neutral nor objective. Our language is dominated by male attributions which have established in our vocabulary in the course of history. A gender equal choice of language tries to circumvent these discrepancies through neutral terms and denominations. The main objective is to directly include women in general statements and assertions by directly addressing them. In the public sector gender neutral language is mandatory by law (North Rhine Westphalia, Germany).

Gender Didactics

People grow up with certain pictures, values and norms regarding traditional gender roles. Teachers tend to pass on – often unconsciously – clichés and stereotypes which contribute to the manifestation of discriminating gender roles among students. Gender equal didactics try to work against these perpetuations of gender roles with gender sensitive and neutral learning strategies. Gender equal learning approaches focus on questions as on how teaching and learning methods can be changed if women and men are considered to be equal.

Gender Equality Plan

A gender equality plan represents a catalogue of measures for the equal treatment of women and men at the workplace. The subject matter of gender equality plans are in particular the enhancement of the female proportion in the workforce, improvement of their education, enforcement of equality in recruitment processes for qualified positions as well as work life balance measures. The assertion of equality lies under the responsibility of the Equal Opportunity Commissioner.

Gender Mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming is the integration of the gender perspective into every stage of policy processes – into design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – with a view to promoting equality between women and men.
It means assessing how policies impact on the life and position of both women and men – and taking responsibility to re-address them if necessary. The concept of Gender Mainstreaming was first proposed at the 1995 World Conference on Women in Peking. The idea has been developed in the United Nations development community and was introduced to the wider European public through the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam which includes multiple new provisions strengthening EU competence in the area of equal opportunities and declared the concept the official goal of EU-politics. Source.

Gender Sensitivity

Gender sensitivity is a form of social competence that refers to an adequate and sensitive behaviour towards the thematic field of Gender. It enables people to objectively analyse a situation, unbiased, respectful, flexible and empathetic regarding certain gender aspects. One example would be a gender neutral use of language.
Furthermore Gender sensitivity refers to the ability to recognize, acknowledge and question existing power structures regarding gender specific differences and to realise gender equality at the work place or in the personal environment.

Gender Studies

Gender Studies centre on the relationship between the sexes as socially constructed connections, their historical development and their manifestations in different cultures. It is an interdisciplinary research field which analyses the construction of political and economical power relations and examines social structures and the allocation of knowledge regarding gender specific aspects.

H

Human Resources Development

Human Resources Development is the systematic qualification and development of employees regarding professional, communicative and social competencies of the workforce.

Human Rights

The European Union sees human rights as universal and indivisible. It is therefore actively promoting and defending them both within its borders and in its relations with outside countries. At the same time, the EU does not seek to usurp the wide powers in this area held by the national governments of its member states. The focus of the Union’s human rights policy is on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It also seeks to promote the rights of women and of children as well as of minorities and displaced persons. (Source)

I

Interculturalism

Interculturalism describes the interaction of two or more cultures. There are differences between cultures which result out of the affiliation to different cultures. However despite despite cultural differences an exchange is always possible. Interculturalism describes the ambivalence of differences and similarities between cultures and resultant new intercultural developments.

Intercultural Competence

In order to understand and appreciate other cultures, people have to be fully aware of their own values and beliefs and of the fact that these are embedded in cultural expectations and conditions. Intercultural Competence describes the ability to reflect on your own cultural identity, to overcome cultural differences and to deal with cross cultural situations adequately.

L

LGBT

The acronym LGBT refers collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual und transgender people.
The binary description lesbian and gay was extended since not all members of the community explicitly identify with either one of these groups. Someone who is transgender does not necessarily have to be gay or lesbian. The term LGBT reflects the diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based groups.

M

Mentoring

The term mentoring derives from Greek mythology. When Odysseus went to the Trojan War, he assigned a confidant named Mentor to take care of his son Telemachus. During Odysseus’ absence it was Mentor’s duty to be a fatherly friend and a loyal advisor to Telemachus and to accompany and educate him. Nowadays mentoring is used as an institutionalised, process-orientated strategy for a gender-equal human resource development approach for junior staff members. Mentoring describes the promotional relationship between an experienced (mentor) and an inexperienced person (mentee). In a mentoring relationship the mentor passes on knowledge about institutional relations and networks, and supports the mentee in her or his career development.

Forms of Mentoring

A mentoring relationship is characterised by the absence of traditional hierarchies and takes place outside usual power structures of an institution.
The following forms of mentoring are adapted to the needs and requirements of the mentees:

• Team or Group Mentoring: Several mentees are supported by the same mentor (maybe even by two or more).
• Peer-Mentoring: Preferably mentees from same status groups organise themselves and support each other.
• Cross-Mentoring: Mentors and mentees come from different organisations or branches.
• Individual or one-to-one Mentoring: Exclusive relationship between mentor and mentee.

Objectives of Mentoring

Mentoring programmes often address women (or other marginalised groups) and support them in their career and network development. In the centre of mentoring relationships is the exchange of experience as well as the arrangement of contacts and opportunities to access important sources of information and networks which were so far exclusively accrued to men. The underrepresentation on all career levels in academia is countervailed through the methodological construction of analogue network structures for women as well as the visualisation and strengthening of their potentials.

Men's Studies

Men’s Studies are an interdisciplinary academic field dedicated to questions concerning the construction of gender and masculinity within social, political and historic contexts. Men’s Studies are a branch of Gender Studies whose other research focuses are on feminist theories and Women’s Studies.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism describes the coexistence and cooperation of different cultures and the emanating cultural and ethnic Diversity within a society. In this context culture is referred to as the entirety of all characteristics which determine the social, economical and spiritual life of an ethnic or religious group. The creative aspect of culture und its ingenious dimension is essential in the concept of multiculturalism. (Source)

O

Organisational Development

Organisational Development is the epistemology of specific changes and developments within organisations. The promotion of institutional change processes stands in the centre of this discipline, e.g. strategy development, organisational diagnosis, change of organisational cultures and monitoring of change processes within the organisation.

P

Promotion of women at the workplace (Affirmative Action for Women)

If women can offer the same performance, qualification and competencies in a professional area in which they are generally underrepresented, they should be favoured in recruitment or promotion processes. The main goal is to achieve a female proportion of at least 50% in all public and private institutions.

S

Staff Unit

A people unit is an advising authority which participates in a specific development process of an organisation. The main function of a staff unit is to provide certain departments with specialists in order to generate and implement new scientific findings and systematic methods of problem solving for the improvement of decision making. Thus the decision making process is divided. In general the staff unit has only a consultative function and can be formed for various purposes. Typical fields of action are strategic planning, controlling, human resources and organisational development.

Stereotype

A stereotype is a form of social categorisation. Through specific behavioural patterns such as social learning theory certain negative or positive attributes are assigned to a group of people . Stereotypes are commonly known generalisations of groups or individuals which are always inaccurate.

T

Transsexuality

Transsexuality is a description for persons whose gender identity is not consistent with their biological sex.

Transgender

Transgender is a description for persons who cannot sufficiently identify with the binary gender categories female and male.

Transculturalism

The concept of transculturalism emanates from the fact that today’s cultures are marked by a multitude of possible identities. In a globalised world they are transnationally effective and can be reshaped, mixed and further developed when exposed to other cultures. The traditional picture of homogeneous cultural groups is therefore questioned in the concept of transculturalism.

W

Work-Life-Balance

Work life balance is a form of organisational human resources management which pursues a balance between work and private life. It represents a new interaction of work and private life in the framework of a dynamically changing work and private life. Organisational work life balance measures are aimed to provide successful professional careers under consideration of private, social, cultural and health expectations. A central aspect of this fundamental perspective represents the reconciliation of work and family life. (Source: BMFSFJ)

Working Group family friendly Science City

Since May 2005 Aachen’s alliance of family puts the reconciliation of work and family life in the center of its activities; the initiative is supported by Aachen’s mayor Dr. Jürgen Linden. The main objective is the continuous improvement of living conditions for families and the development of organisational and societal structures which support and strengthen families. Next to the city of Aachen other members of the alliance include Aachen’s universities and their student unions, the protestant and catholic churches, trade associations as well as other interest groups. In the framework of the alliance the working group family friendly science city focuses on the strengthening of the study location Aachen und the development of hitherto ignored potentials of underrepresented groups. In the long term members of the universities should get the opportunity to start a family already during their studies and after graduation find an adequate employment in Aachen. You can find more information here.