Gender Mainstreaming in Teaching: The Case of Catalan Universities

The introduction of a gender perspective into the university curricula is one of the main priorities of the European Research Area (ERA) and it is related to the excellence in teaching and research content, stimulating critical thinking and the capacity of performing without gender bias in academic and professional fields. In Catalonia, since the adoption of the Equality Act in 2015, is mandatory that the gender perspective is incorporated in all qualifications offered by universities requiring accreditation by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency. Since then, and with the advice of the Women in Science Committee (WSC), universities started to do the work. The WSC is a collegiate body that includes all Catalan universities, the Catalan government responsible for science and universities and the University Quality Assurance Agency, among others, with the role of ensuring compliance with the legal objectives of equality in higher education and research. Several actions have been promoted during these years, as driving, coordinating and monitoring Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in universities and research centres or agreeing on a system of indicators to assess the situation of women in academia. In this research we focus on one recent action, recognised as a best practice by EIGE (European Institute of Gender Equality), which is the promotion of gender mainstreaming in Catalan universities curricula. We analyze the incorporation of this measure through a qualitative approach based on documentary analysis of the GEPs of all Catalan universities from 2015-2022. The results show how the gender perspective, with an intersectional approach, is starting to be introduced in the curricula and is becoming central to the notion of quality in teaching, as also the implementation of the gender perspective in teaching content has to be further developed to have effective results in knowledge processes of the students.