A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring (GEAM) tool is an integrated environment for carrying out survey-based gender equality audits in academic organizations or organizational units. Its core instrument is a flexible questionnaire framework based upon the Athena Survey of Science, Engineering and Technology (ASSET) and on existing measurement scales in the scientific literature. It comprises a collection of questions that cover most aspects of gender equality in academic organizations, providing high-quality data for designing and implementing gender equality measures and assessing their impact over time. Carrying out the GEAM repeatedly, for example an a bi-annually, provides a basis for assessing the impact of equality measures over time. When using the GEAM in various institutions it can provide the basis for a comparative institutional analysis.
Due to export/import features of the LimeSurvey survey platform, existing questionnaires can be easily shared and copied between organizations, reducing considerably the effort and resources needed to design and setup a baseline gender equality audit. Users can focus on adapting and tweaking the default questionnaire to their particular organizational context. Reporting templates further ease the task of generating descriptive statistics.
The GEAM has been developed by AdvanceHE (UK), Notus (Spain) and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) (Spain) in collaboration with the ACT Consortium partners. It is based upon the Athena Survey of Science, Engineering and Technology (ASSET), and has been extended with new questions and topics and adapted to better fit the varying national and organizational contexts in Europe.
Apart from an the actual online questionnaire, the GEAM constitutes a audit and monitoring framework, comprised of several, interlocking elements:
- The GEAM Core questionnaire, which offers an “out-of-the-box” solution for implementing a high-quality gender equality audit/monitoring survey in several languages (English, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, Portuguese). A live demo version is available (submitted data is not being stored).
- The GEAM is implemented on top of the LimeSurvey platform hosted by the ACT project, to offer a flexible but protected online environment for launching surveys.
- An online database of questionnaires and/or questionnaire modules for downloading existing questionnaires which then can be easily adapted or extended to fit particular interests or organizational contexts.
- Online manuals and reporting templates to facilitate the setup and launch of questionnaires as well as the reporting of results.
WHAT THEMATIC AREAS DOES THE GEAM COVER?
The GEAM CORE questionnaire includes several thematic modules that cover different aspects related to gender equality in the workplace:
- Socio-demographic variables. Questions collect information on date of birth, citizenship status(es), religious belief, sex and gender, sexual orientation, trans status or history, disability, highest qualification, parents’ highest qualifications and net household income.
- Working conditions questions collect information on the following: position in organization, academic field, net salary, bonus, faculty/ department, contract type, career access, progression, barriers and development training, caring responsibilities, work role responsibilities, work and pay conditions and satisfaction levels, pregnancy support, work-family balance, leave support and workload.
- Stereotypes, prejudices and bias questions collect information on unconscious bias, bias during recruitment, leadership. Available as add-on modules to the GEAM Core are different scales to measure sexism, such as the “modern sexism”, “neosexism” or ambivalent sexism” scales.
- Organizational culture and climate questions collect information on representation of men and women, gender equality, differences in allocation of roles, promotions, treatment, perceptions of work environment and climate, recruitment factors, promotion factors, masculinity perceptions, team climate.
- Interpersonal behaviors and experiences questions collect information on microaggressions, harassment, bullying and stalking, organizational workplace culture on bullying and harassment.
Currently, the GEAM questionnaire is available in English and has been translated into German, Spanish, Lithuanian, Polish, and Portuguese. Further translations foreseen are French and Slovenian.
HOW CAN I USE GEAM?
In order to start using the GEAM within your organization, you just need to apply for an account by writing an email to info@act-on-gender.eu When your access credentials have been verified you can login and start editing your GEAM questionnaire instance and adapt it to your specific organizational context.
In order to learn more about the GEAM please visit: https://geam.act-on-gender.eu
To see a live demo of the GEAM, please visit https://www.act-on-gender.eu/survey/index.php/511548?lang=en
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For a review of the scientific literature that has informed the development of the GEAM please consult:
Aldercotte, Amanda, Maria Caprile, Kevin Guyan, Memory Malibha-Pinchbeck, Jörg Müller, Rachel Palmén, and Carla Startin. 2019. “ACT - Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring (GEAM).” Zenodo, January. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3476726.