Gender audit at the Faculty of Science MU

The gender audit of the Faculty of Science MU was carried out in accordance with the Standard for Gender Audit of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic during May and June 2021. The audit consisted of an analysis of public and non-public institutional documents, in particular documents regulating the relationship between employer and employee, as well as an analysis of available data (quantitative research) quantifying, again, in particular various levels of the relationship between employer and employee (e.g. remuneration, career advancement, flexible forms of work, etc. ) and a questionnaire survey carried out at the Faculty in 2020. Important inputs for the audit were obtained through two focus groups (qualitative research). The focus groups were heterogeneous in nature, they included men, women, parents, people without children, people from the Faculty management, teachers, academic and non-academic employees, Ph.D. students as representatives of the students. The focus groups were complemented by two semi-structured interviews with the Dean and the Faculty Bursar.

We are very grateful to all focus group participants!

The audit found that the Faculty of Science MU approaches its HR policy transparently, as evidenced by publicly available documents and also systematically, as evidenced, among other things, by obtaining the HR Award quality certification and implementing the HRS4R (The Human Resources Strategy for Researchers) since 3rd December 2018.

Based on the analyses performed, the audit team recommended 3 main actions to the Faculty of Science in the following areas:

• EVALUATION AND REMUNERATION OF EMPLOYEES
  It was recommended to complete the implementation of employee evaluation using the university application (EVAK) in all the departments, then to process the experience from the pilot evaluation conducted at the Faculty in 2021 and also to work with feedback from employees. The auditors recommend linking the evaluation more explicitly to remuneration and thus further objectifying remuneration. The auditors also recommended the Faculty to conduct a gender pay analysis in the future using the Swiss LOGIB tool.

• CHILDCARE FACILITIES
  It was recommended to re-examine the current needs of employees - parents through a questionnaire survey. It was also recommended by the auditors to address the situation in collaboration with other MUNI faculties and Rector´s Office to ensure affordable childcare facilities on both Faculty campuses.

• PREVENTION OF INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR, SEXISM AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT
  It was recommended to introduce the function of ombudsman (ombudsperson) to be established, to whom any victim of sexist or sexual harassment could turn. It was also recommended to use existing methodologies and manuals for both university management and lecturers as well as for students, which provide guidance on formal procedures and directly draft forms that the victim can fill in.

All recommended steps and actions will be carefully evaluated by the Faculty of Science MU and solutions will be sought in accordance with organisational possibilities.