Guidelines and processes
Since 2003, the legal framework in this area has been the Equality Implementing Agreement (AV-Glei), implemented through individual agreements in the institutions. In line with the association’s legal structure, the institutions also apply local state equality laws.
As early as 2008, the Leibniz Association became the first non-university research organisation to adopt the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality of the German Research Foundation (DFG). And in 2016, it added its own Leibniz Equality Standards. Regular, comprehensive monitoring processes track how far the equality standards have been implemented in the institutions. The most recent findings were published in the Leibniz Equality Report 2020. Monitoring and reporting activities are supervised by a presidential project group in which several different status groups are represented. The project group is supported by Leibniz Headquarters.
Equal opportunities also play an important role in the Leibniz evaluation process, during which decisions are taken about whether to continue funding the institutions. The independent evaluation asks questions about the implementation of equal opportunities measures, and the findings are documented in the evaluation report.
At association level, the Leibniz Association strives to achieve equal gender representation on all its official bodies. This has already been achieved in most cases. At least half of the members of the Senate, the Senate Committees on Strategic Projects, Competition and Evaluation and the Prize Jury are women.