Short summary/outcome:
EVAN GENDER BOARD MINUTES 26TH AND 27TH MARCH, 2006 ATHENS STRUCTURE OF MEETING A series of short meetings of the Gender Board (GB), comprising Katrin Schäfer, Sarah Elton and Katerina Harvati, and associated members of the Management Committee, were held during the Kick-Off meeting in Athens on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th March, 2006. This was the first set of face-to-face meetings of the GB, but previous meetings had been held electronically. FUTURE MEETINGS At least one face-to-face meeting of the GB will be held each year, at the time when the Management Committee convenes. Other business will be conducted by electronic meetings and telephone or video conference calls. DOCUMENTING GB ACTIVITIES A set of formal minutes will be written for each face-to-face meeting, and sent to the EVAN Coordinator. Formal decisions made by the GB at other times will also be documented and sent to the EVAN Coordinator. Action: SE to draft first set of minutes and circulate to GB for comments. PROVIDING INFORMATION TO COORDINATOR The EVAN Coordinator approved the proposal that the Gender Board would act to address issues of equality in the first instance, and would keep him informed if any issues required intervention from him or the Steering Committee. PROVIDING INFORMATION TO PARTNER SITES Partner Sites were given a briefing on the roles and activities of the Gender Board at the Kick Off meeting. Briefing notes on equality issues will be made available on the EVAN website. A statement of EVAN’s commitment to equal opportunities will also be put on the website. Action: SE to draft briefing notes based on the presentation at the meeting and circulate to GB for comments. The GB to formulate a short statement on equal opportunities. Both to be circulated to Coordinator before putting on website. PROVIDING INFORMATION TO FELLOWS The Training Administrator and the Coordinator agreed to the proposal that the Gender Board write a letter to new Fellows to introduce the work of the Gender Board and to provide them with important information. These letters would be sent to males and females, but the letter to females would include an additional section about the women’s email list and female-female mentoring. Drafts of the letters are to be circulated to the Coordinator and the Training Administrator, to ensure that they complement the information given in their letters of introduction. Action: GB to draft a letter and circulate for comments. It was also suggested that a FAQ section for Fellows on the EVAN website might be useful. Action: GB to discuss this further once the initial briefing documents had been posted on the website. MONITORING Monitoring will occur through a Recruitment and Appointments form and an Annual Monitoring form. These will be completed online via the ‘reporting’ section of the EVAN website. Action: KS to ask EVAN Webmaster to put the forms online. The GB will ask, via emails to the Partner Sites, for the names of women currently involved in the network. Action: GB to send email to partner sites. The Neanderthal Museum has already notified the GB of an appointment, and will be sent a form to complete by email. Action: SE to send form to Neanderthal Museum APPOINTMENTS AND RECRUITMENT The briefing document will include some information on appointments and recruitment, and links are to be added to EVAN website giving ideas for ‘best practice’ in this area. Recruitment sites targeted at females are to be identified, and added to the list of sites used to advertise EVAN positions. Action: GB to identify suitable recruitment sites for each country involved in EVAN. SEXUAL HARRASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION The GB agreed that it would act as a confidential and sympathetic point of contact for Fellows and other members of the Network (male or female) alleging sexual harassment or discrimination. However, the GB would not investigate or adjudicate on any allegations. Instead, they would provide information about the official point of contact for such issues as the individual’s institution, and help the individual make contact if necessary and appropriate. Action: GB to compile a list of HR contacts for equality, sexual harassment and sex discrimination issues for each institution. FEMALE-FEMALE MENTORING AND EMAIL LIST Experienced females associated with EVAN will be contacted to ask them if they would be prepared to be mentors. Each woman Fellow will be assigned a female mentor in addition to their scientific mentor as soon as possible after they join EVAN. Each woman involved in EVAN will be contacted to ask if they would like their name to be added to the women’s mailing list. ACTION: GB to identify and contact EVAN women. MAKING LINKS Other organisations with an interest in women in science and anthropology will be contacted. The PowerPoint presentation/briefing document will also be sent to the Center for Gender Equality, University of Vienna. Action: GB to contact like-minded organisations (SE to contact AAA, AAPA & EAA). KS to liaise with Wien Center.