Le site www.ega-pro.fr est un nouveau site web d’information sur le mode d’emploi de l’égalité professionnelle entre les femmes et les hommes. Il s’adresse notamment aux petites et moyennes entreprises et leur propose un parcours personnalisé et des outils gratuits d'aide au diagnostic sur le thème de l'égalité professionnelle entre les femmes et les hommes.
Concernant les outils, le site, élaboré par les services de l'Etat en concertation avec les partenaires sociaux, propose notamment une vidéo réalisée par la Commission Européenne qui permet de mieux comprendre comment les inégalités entre les femmes et les hommes naissent puis se développent, notamment au cours de la vie professionnelle. Un test de 16 questions propose également d’évaluer ses connaissances sur l’égalité professionnelle et les différences de conditions de travail entre les femmes et les hommes. Les PME peuvent aussi utiliser des supports de sensibilisation à utiliser dans les entreprises.

By AFP. THE University of Iowa has become the first public US university to include optional questions about sexual orientation and gender identity on its application, a move hailed by advocates hoping to improve the college experience for gays and lesbians.
University officials say the move sends a strong signal that they value the diversity that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students bring to campus. They say that knowing some students' sexual orientation will allow them to track their enrolment and graduation rates and promote housing, student groups and programs that might improve their social and academic success.
"This is a question whose time had come,'' university admissions director Michael Barron said.
Iowa's decision was praised by Campus Pride, an advocacy group that has been lobbying colleges to ask the questions so schools can track the progress of LGBT students. Elmhurst College, a private liberal-arts school in suburban Chicago, became the first -- and is still the only other -- college to do so last year. Read more...

Le 30 novem­bre 2012, un comité inter­mi­nis­té­riel s’est réuni dans l’opti­que de fran­chir une nou­velle étape dans l’élaboration d’une troi­sième géné­ra­tion des droits des fem­mes. Après les droits civi­ques reconnus à la Libération, après les droits économiques et sociaux des années 70 et 80, il s’agit désor­mais de défi­nir les droits por­teurs d’égalité réelle. Un plan d’action interministériel a été adopté (cf. relevé de décisions sur le site femmes.gouv.fr).
La dimension égalité femmes/hommes est déjà bien intégrée dans les préoccupations du ministère du travail, de l’emploi, de la formation professionnelle et du dialogue social tant en matière de gestion des ressources humaines que dans ses politiques publiques.
En matière de ressources humaines, ce département ministériel est engagé dans une démarche de promotion de l’égalité des droits (dans le cadre notamment de l’obtention, en juillet dernier, du label diversité), démarche qu’il poursuivra avec détermination. Dans ce cadre doit être mis en œuvre un plan d’action pour l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes. Outre les obligations juridiques relatives aux nominations équilibrées dans l’encadrement supérieur de la fonction publique, le plan d’action devrait concerner toutes les étapes du parcours de l’agent(e): recrutement, gestion, formation, retour de congés, promotion, mobilité. Il devrait s’appuyer sur une analyse approfondie de la situation actuelle et comporter un volet important de lutte contre les stéréotypes.
S’agissant des politiques publiques, l’action du ministère en faveur de l’égalité professionnelle entre les femmes et les hommes devrait être renforcée autour de quelques grands axes: effectivité du droit au travers d’un renforcement de l’efficacité du dispositif de sanction des entreprises ne se conformant pas à leurs obligations, place des femmes aux postes de responsabilité (COMEX, IRP), simplification des négociations en matière d’égalité professionnelle, réflexion sur la classification des métiers, mixité des métiers, prise en compte de la dimension égalité dans les contrats de génération, ou dans la future génération de COM apprentissage, lutte contre le harcèlement sexuel, soutien à la parentalité par des mesures d’accompagnement adapté de retour à l’emploi des bénéficiaires du CLCA, utilisation de crédits du FSE etc. Cette action s’appuiera également sur des expérimentations en régions et la production d’outils méthodologiques. Elle s’inscrit en grande partie dans le cadre de la feuille de route sociale issue de la grande conférence sociale des 9 et 10 juillet dernier. Le ministère du travail sera particulièrement attentif aux résultats des négociations en cours entre partenaires sociaux.
Toutes ces mesures feront l’objet d’un suivi attentif grâce aux outils statistiques sexués dont dispose le ministère, et dont la qualité sera accrue. Consulter la feuille de route: La feuille de route du Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi, de la Formation professionnelle et du Dialogue social.

Exchange of best practices on the gender pay gap, 29-30 October 2012, Limassol, Cyprus  Venue: Grand Resort, Lemesos (Limassol)
Objectives
This tripartite Cyprus presidency conference is organised by the Department of Labour - Cyprus Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
One of the aims of the conference is to highlight practices and measures which enterprises may implement in order to eliminate the gender pay gap and promote the principle of equal pay between men and women.
Government officials and representatives from employers’ and workers’ organisations from the Member States of the European Union will have the opportunity to discuss remaining challenges and identify best practices in the area.
Eurofound contributions
Occupational segregation: Impacts on female and male workers, by Isabella Biletta
Occupational segregation is a well-known and persistent feature of European labour markets. It is mainly associated to female workers’ behaviour on the labour markets; their positioning is assumed to be ‘specific’. The impacts of occupational segregation on work, for both men and women, are significant. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that what occurs in labour markets almost mirrors the way society is organised; therefore, societal path-dependency should not be overlooked when addressing occupational segregation and other gender issues on the labour market. Overall, gender issues are still challenging social partners views and actions.
Promoting income transparency through social dialogue in Austria, by Christine Aumayr-Pintar
The presentation will focus on the recent policy developments in Austria with regard to creating income transparency as one means of reducing the gender pay gap. It will feature in particular the new instrument of ‘income policy reports’, which in a step-by-step procedure from 2011 – 2014 has to be carried out by companies of different sizes. Finally it will look at the social partners’ concrete actions in supporting implementation of this policy.

By Jennifer González. Female high-school students are more likely to aspire to attend college than are their male counterparts, and the young women enroll in college, persist, and graduate from it at higher rates as well, according to a report released on Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The report, "Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study," says that, in 2004, 96 percent of female high-school seniors wanted to go to college, compared with 90 percent of males. When female high-school graduates enrolled in college, they tended to do so immediately after high-school graduation; half chose a four-year institution.
Male high-school graduates made similar choices, but at lower rates. For example, while almost three-quarters of female students who enrolled in college did so immediately after high school, just over two-thirds of male students did. Slightly less than half of young men first enrolled in a four-year institution.
Young women also paid more attention to the college search while in high school, the report says. A greater share of female high-school students (80 percent) had "consulted college Web sites, publications, or search guides for information on college entrance requirements" than had males (68 percent). Among seniors in high school, women were more likely than men to reach out to college representatives for information.
Once in college, a higher percentage of women tended to stay enrolled and to graduate, according to the report. Roughly 60 percent of all first-time, full-time bachelor-degree-seeking students who started college in 2004 had earned that degree six years later from the same institution. A greater proportion of women had finished (61 percent) than men (56 percent). Female students across all racial and ethnic groups graduated at higher rates than did their male counterparts, with the biggest discrepancy among black students, the report says.
Women were also more likely than were men to receive financial aid—82 percent versus 77 percent—and to participate in a campus club during their first year, according to the report.

ByCurt Rice. “Data not only measures progress; it inspires it.” And, indeed, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nerdy view of innovation did excite those sitting around me recently at “Evidence and Impact: Closing the gender data gap”. Clinton’s speech was both an analysis of the need for better data about women and their lives, and a challenge to researchers and university leaders.
“Data only becomes valuable when it is organised and put to work. And before we make big decisions – in business, in government, in life – we should do the research, run the numbers. It’s how we minimise risk and maximise impact.”
What decisions is Clinton referring to here? How can we help her?

Posted by Curt Rice for University of Venus, part of the Guardian higher education editorial network. A recent report reveals that only 12% of third year female PhD students want a career in academia. Curt Rice looks at the reasons why and warns that universities' survival is at risk.
Young women scientists leave academia in far greater numbers than men for three reasons. During their time as PhD candidates, large numbers of women conclude that (i) the characteristics of academic careers are unappealing, (ii) the impediments they will encounter are disproportionate, and (iii) the sacrifices they will have to make are great. This is the conclusion of The chemistry PhD: the impact on women's retention, a report for the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET and the Royal Society of Chemistry. In this report, the results of a longitudinal study with PhD students in chemistry in the UK are presented.
Men and women show radically different developments regarding their intended future careers. At the beginning of their studies, 72% of women express an intention to pursue careers as researchers, either in industry or academia. Among men, 61% express the same intention. By the third year, the proportion of men planning careers in research had dropped from 61% to 59%. But for the women, the number had plummeted from 72% in the first year to 37% as they finish their studies.
If we tease apart those who want to work as researchers in industry from those who want to work as researchers in academia, the third year numbers are alarming: 12% of the women and 21% of the men see academia as their preferred choice. This is not the number of PhD students who in fact do go to academia; it's the number who want to. 88% of the women don't even want academic careers, nor do 79% of the men! How can it be this bad? Why are universities such unattractive workplaces?
Part of The chemistry PhD discusses problems that arise while young researchers are PhD candidates, including too little supervision, too much supervision, focus on achieving experimental results rather than mastery of methodologies, and much more. The long-term effects, though, are reflected in the attitudes and beliefs about academia that emerge during this period. The participants in the study identify many characteristics of academic careers that they find unappealing: the constant hunt for funding for research projects is a significant impediment for both men and women. But women in greater numbers than men see academic careers as all-consuming, solitary and as unnecessarily competitive.
Both men and women PhD candidates come to realise that a string of post-docs is part of a career path, and they see that this can require frequent moves and a lack of security about future employment. Women are more negatively affected than men by the competitiveness in this stage of an academic career and their concerns about competitiveness are fuelled, they say, by a relative lack of self-confidence.
Women more than men see great sacrifice as a prerequisite for success in academia. This comes in part from their perception of women who have succeeded, from the nature of the available role models. Successful female professors are perceived by female PhD candidates as displaying masculine characteristics, such as aggression and competitiveness, and they were often childless.
As if all this were not enough, women PhD candidates had one experience that men never have. They were told that they would encounter problems along the way simply because they are women. They are told, in other words, that their gender will work against them.
By following PhD candidates throughout their study and asking probing questions, we learn not only that the number of women in chemistry PhD programs who intend to pursue a career in academia falls dramatically, but we learn why. (See also Why go for a PhD? Advice for those in doubt.)
This research and the new knowledge it produces should be required reading for everyone leading a university or a research group. The stories surely apply far beyond chemistry. Remember that it's not just women who find academia unappealing. Only 21% of the men wanted to head our way, too. Universities will not survive as research institutions unless university leadership realises that the working conditions they offer dramatically reduce the size of the pool from which they recruit. We will not survive because we have no reason to believe we are attracting the best and the brightest. When industry is the more attractive employer, our credibility as the home of long-term, cutting edge, high-risk, profoundly creative research, is diminished.
The answers here lie in leadership and in changing our current culture to build a new one for new challenges. The job is significant and it will require cutting edge, high-risk leadership teamwork to succeed. Is your university ready?
Curt Rice is a regular contributor at University of Venus and vice president for research at the University of Tromsø in Norway.

Oxford University students will no longer have to wear gender-specific academic clothing after concerns it was unfair to the transgender community.
It will mean men can attend formal occasions in skirts and stockings and women in suits and bow ties. The new rules come after a motion by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer society (LGBTQ Soc) was passed by the students' union earlier this year.
The changes, to start from 4 August, have now been agreed by the university. Jess Pumphrey, LGBTQ officer, said the change would make a number of students' exam experience significantly less stressful.
Under the old laws on academic clothing - known as subfusc - male students were required to wear a dark suit and socks, black shoes, a white bow tie and a plain white shirt and collar under their black gowns. Female students had to wear a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black stockings and shoes and a black ribbon tied in a bow at the neck.
If a transgender student wanted to wear subfusc of the opposite sex they had to seek special dispensation from university proctors, who had the power to punish those who breached the rules.
An Oxford University spokesman said: "The regulations have been amended to remove any reference to gender, in response to concerns raised by Oxford University Student Union that the existing regulations did not serve the interests of transgender students."