During the phase of starting a family, especially women tend to temporarily de-prioritize their professional development. In order to retain and develop these talents, IAMO is pro-actively taking steps to offer family-friendly, fair, flexible and attractive careers for its women scientists.
In order to increase the proportion of women in academia, a project entitled “Promotion of gender equality for female scientists at IAMO” (FEM-Power) started in October 2017. The five year program is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the State of Saxony-Anhalt. The aim of the FEM-Power project is to promote equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace and the compatibility of work and family life. The previous project results and also future perspectives were presented by IAMO at the conference “(F)EMPOWERing Saxony-Anhalt! 3 years of FEM POWER” in October 2019. In addition to several lectures and a poster exhibition, a lively and constructive exchange of ideas took place between the equal opportunities actors at federal state level.
With women accounting for 45 per cent of staff, IAMO enjoys an almost balanced gender distribution of its employees. The staff members benefit, among other things, from flexible working hours (including the possibility of part-time work and alternating telework), family-friendly meeting times and a parent-child office at the institute. In addition, especially the female scientists get offers to targeted training courses, events and projects, such as the participation in a lecture series on the topic “Gender Research” at the University of Magdeburg and the collaboration in the conceptualisation of diversity policy at the Leibniz Association.
IAMO is currently working on ways to strengthen the compatibility of academic career, family and private life, taking equality and diversity into account. To this end, a comprehensive audit is carried out together with the company “berufundfamilie”.
IAMO supports women in science
The “International Day of Women and Girls in Science” takes place worldwide every year on 11 February. This day recognizes the signifiant role women and girls play in science and technology. IAMO also appreciates what women scientists from various disciplines achieve in research and for society.
