British Council

The British Council promotes a more diverse and gender representative science to increase the presence and influence of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers through Women in STEM, part of the Going Global Partnerships Programme. This initiative aims to transform patterns of influence and support schemes for leadership and gender in STEM via the exchange of best practice and the power of networks grounded on the development of capacities and the necessary tools to advance on common goals. This will ultimately contribute to stronger, more inclusive, and globally connected tertiary education systems, which support economic and social growth. As part of this ambition, the British Council has supported the development of the first Brazil Gender Equality framework for Higher Education Institutions. Launched in 2022 and inspired by the UK Athena Swan Charter, the Brazil Gender Equality Framework aims to act as a catalyst for long term institutional change that tackles discrimination, removes exclusionary practices and policies, and changes behaviours within higher education and research ecosystems.

The framework was developed through a series of workshops, exchanges, dialogues and experiences of institutions from the UK and Brazil (2021), which worked collaboratively to identify key elements for local adaption, context-specific realities and required tools and processes to make it viable, relevant, and impactful. This framework has been created to support HEIs in Brazil to address the under-representation and inequalities that women STEM face.

The primary goal of the tool is to support HEIs, funding organisations, government agencies and the different institutions influencing the Higher Education and research ecosystem in Brazil in their journey towards promoting and endorsing gender and race equality, by providing equality principles to which all institutions can adhere; a framework to support the collection of comparable data; and guidelines for developing a participatory gender action plan. By supporting applicable tools to design, monitor and accompany structured processes, we it aims to engage and influence cross-sector accountability for a more diverse and representative science.

During the UK-Brazil Gender Equality Partnerships Call 2022, the selected projects engaged in deeper discussions around the framework and potential application of the tool within their institutions, and in 2023 the British Council delivered a series of ten workshops across all five regions in Brazil to disseminate the tool and foster discussions and networking among the HEI and including funding and system agencies. The workshop series was able to raise awareness to the framework and incentivise discussions which help better understand the challenges, opportunities, barriers, and appetites for the effective implementation of the tool by HEIs nationwide.

The session is an opportunity to cascade key notions of the framework, share next steps to collectively achieve greater influence of the tool across the wider HE and science ecosystem and explore opportunities for institutional partnerships with like- minded institutions, within and across countries.

Presentation outline

Presentation of tool and its key features, establish dialogue with HEIs on current policies and practices in place; allow for some reflections on how to move forward towards gender equality.

Intended audience and outcomes:

Higher Education Institutions, members of International Relations Departments, members of EDI and gender committees/commissions, government agencies and

bodies, funding agencies.

Outcomes:

1. Greater awareness of the first Gender Equality Framework developed in Brazil.

2. Greater understanding of key processes to advance on the design of action

plans to embed Gender Equality in HEIs.

3. Shared experiences on the gender and diversity agendas across the HEIs.

4. Potential spaces for partnership opportunities among participants.

Language used during the session: English