Equal opportunities at DLR
There has been an elected Equal Opportunities Officer at DLR since 2017. The Equal Opportunities Officer has the obligation and task to promote and monitor implementation of the Federal Act on Gender Equality (BGleiG) and the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG) with regard to the protection of employees from discrimination based on gender, in particular discrimination of women. This also includes protection from sexual harassment at the workplace.
Specific tasks at DLR
- Advice and support for women's working groups, networks and similar at all DLR sites
- Cooperation in relaying issues that are relevant to equal treatment
within the framework of DLR’s internal personnel development programmes - Cooperation on issues relating to the reconciliation of work and family life
- Representation of DLR in the Women in Research Centres Working Group (akfifz) within the Helmholtz Association
- Participation in appointments procedures
- Establishment and expansion of the network of trusted persons to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace
The first election of an Equal Opportunities Officer and her deputy took place at DLR in 2017. These persons were then elected to office for a period of four years.
History of equal treatment at DLR
- The Executive Board launched the first equality project entitled
'Equal Opportunities at DLR' in 1998. The key objectives at the time
were to 'increase the number of women in science' and 'more women in
management positions'. - The first Equal Opportunities Officer was appointed by the
Executive Board in 1999 and the Office of Equal Opportunities – now
Diversity Management – was established under her directorship. - Appointment of trusted persons in 2008 to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace.
- The first election of an Equal Opportunities Officer and her deputy took place in 2017.
Women in Research Centres Working Group
The Women in Research Centres Working Group (akfifz) is an association of equal opportunities representatives at all Helmholtz Centres (HGF). akfifz designs, organises and structures measures to foster equal opportunities that are then applied throughout Helmholtz, as well as advising management at the Helmholtz Centres and other bodies. In order to fulfil these tasks, there are meetings every six months and biannual workshops.
akfifz assigns its individual topics to working groups that define their thematic focuses. akfifz is represented by its speaker, who represents the interests of akfifz and the Helmholtz Association both internally and externally.
Key agenda items for a policy of equal opportunities in the Helmholtz Association are:
- Organisation development ('more women in management positions')
- Equal opportunities in the recruitment process
- Support in career planning
- Reconciliation of work and family life
akfifz possesses high professional competence that it is committed to expanding continuously through its close cooperation with the Equal Opportunities Officers at other research institutions, including the Max Planck Society, the Leibniz Association and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, as well as its close contact with funding agencies, the competence centres 'Technology-Diversity-Equal Opportunities' and 'Women in Science and Research'.
DLR has been represented within the Women in Research Centres Working Group since 1999
Appointments method:
The Equal Opportunities Officer and her deputy from the HGF Centres are both members of the working group during their period in office.
Learn more here.