Female Empowerment in
Science and Tecnology Academia
Handbook On Resistance
To Gender Equality In Academia
Festa Resistance And Gender Main Causes & Indicators Main Forms & Symptoms Recommendations Analysis Of Stories Conclusion & References

FESTA - Female Empowerment in Science and Technology Academia

About FESTA
What is FESTA
FESTA is concerned with implementing changes in the working environment of academic researchers,to encourage female researchers to stay and make a career in the academy and to create organizational environments where their competence is valued and fostered. In particular, we address the working environment of researchers in the lower levels of their careers, to make it possible for them to advance to the ranks of highest scientific expertise.

FESTA partners take actions on some core issues, which have seldom been directly addressed in previous activities in particular on the daily environment of researchers: formal and informal decision making processes, meeting cultures, PhD supervision, perceptions of excellence in hiring processes and in the work environment, and resistance to equality measures. 

As gender equality projects are seldom simply transferable from one context to another, FESTA actions are carefully analyzed in regard to the contextual success and failure factors. Research environments in different European contexts can use the variety of measures which FESTA come out with in addressing core issues in their gender equality work. We formulate toolkits and manuals and disseminate it nationally and on the European level in workshops, conferences and through the different networks of the FESTA partners. In addition we communicate through the FESTA website and in papers.
Who is FESTA
FESTA is coordinated by Dr. Minna Salminen Karlsson from the Center for Gender Research at Uppsala University, Sweden. She is accompanied by partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Turkey, Ireland, Germany and Denmark and a strong team of project advisors including: Dr. Elisabetta Addis, Prof. Barbara Bagilhole, Prof. Kjell Bratbergsengen, Prof. David Collinson, Prof. Gabriele Griffin, Dr. Liisa Husu, Prof. Patricia Yancey Martin, Prof. Mustafa Ozbilgin, Dr. Maria Palasik, Prof. Teresa Rees, Prof. Eileen M. Trauth.
Where is FESTA
You can get to know FESTA better by following the news on the website:
 
*Retrieved from : http://www.festa-europa.eu/public/what-who-when-and-where-festa 
Consortium
Coordinator
Uppsala University, Sweden
Partners
WP7: Dealing with Resistances
FESTA is an FP7 implementation project aiming to effect structural and cultural change in higher level education and research institutes in order to advance gender equality (FESTA, 2012). One of the focus areas of the project is to give a deeper understanding of resistance that emerges during processes of change when gender equality policies are implemented in such institutions. To that end, the project undertakes the recording and analysis of the resistance incidents encountered by the partner institutions during the course of FESTA. Using 31 of the narratives of such incidents this handbook aims to summarize what barriers have been experienced along the process of change. By composing a list of recommendations for dealing with the barriers along this process the handbook hopes to assist researchers and change agents engaged in gender equality projects. 
 
After a brief presentation of literature to define what resistance is and in which ways it intersects with gender the handbook focuses on the causes, forms and symptoms of resistance to gender sensitive implementations. Next a set of recommendations crafted by partners offers suggestions on different ways of dealing with resistance. The handbook concludes with the analysis of various resistance cases recorded by FESTA consortium asking and answering in each case why a resistance case occurred, how it happened, who was the resisting person/s, how it would be counteracted. The handbook thus hopes to give clues to the audience about the possible interpretations of a case and the suggested practices for countering it.
 
The objectives of WP7 are:
  • to gain a deeper understanding of resistance against structural change towards gender equality.
  • to study levels, forms, directions, and aspects of resistance coming from men and women as well as the organisations, and the ways resistance operates.
  • to explore different ways of dealing with resistance.

Authors
Gülsün Saðlamer, Istanbul Technical University 
Mine G. Tan, Istanbul Technical University 
Hülya Çaðlayan, Istanbul Technical University 
Nina Almgren, Uppsala University 
Minna Salminen‐Karlsson, Uppsala University
Liv Baisner, University of Southern Denmark 
Eva Sophia Myers, University of Southern Denmark
Gitte Toftgaard Jørgensen, University of Southern Denmark
Manuela Aye, RWTH Aachen University 
Sabine Bausch, RWTH Aachen University 
Pat O’Connor, University of Limerick 
Clare O’Hagan, University of Limerick 
Ita Richardson, University of Limerick 
Mario Conci, Bruno Kessler Foundation 
Georgi Apostolov, South-West University, Bulgaria 
Irina Topuzova, South-West University, Bulgaria 
Reviewers
Gabrile Griffin, Uppsala University 
Cartoon Designer
Prof. Dr. Tayfun Akgul, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Istanbul Technical University 
Contact Information
info@festa.europa.eu 
festaproject@itu.edu.tr