Gender Equality Policies in Science in Catalonia: between Legal Regulation and Political Action

Abstract

Policies to address inequality between men and women in science and technology began to enter the Catalan political agenda after the change of government in 2003, when the first tripartite government was formed in the Generalitat of Catalonia. This article is a review of the most important government actions in Catalonia until 2022 in the field of women’s and equality policies in science. We emphasise that this development has been modest and limited as few specific initiatives have been developed and few new political actors or structures have been created or consolidated. We argue that the strategy of gender mainstreaming has been included in a declarative way in the political discourse and also as a formal strategy. However, this strategy does not fully enter into political action, nor into scientific political action. The article points out that Catalonia is known for having created its own model of regulation and institutionalisation of equality policies in science, a model characterised by its own low legal regulation and also by moderate institutionalisation while achieving significant advances for women in the field of science and universities.

Keywords

• women
• equality policies
• science
• gender manstreaming
• institutionalisation
• universities