
Gender equality and equal opportunities
Luleå University of Technology is committed to purposeful efforts to promote equality and equal opportunities. The University's activities are based on the pursuit of equality among individuals, as well as ethnic and social diversity.
The equal value of all individuals is acknowledged, and the university works against racism and xenophobia. Increased equality, ethnic and social diversity are matters of justice and democracy. All employees should have the same rights, responsibilities, and opportunities in all essential areas of life.
Gender-equal university
The aim of Luleå University of Technology's work on gender equality is for women and men to have equal power to shape society and their own lives. To achieve a gender-equal society, a gender perspective must be applied to all areas of society. This strategy is known as gender mainstreaming.
What is gender mainstreaming?
Gender mainstreaming involves incorporating a gender perspective into all decision-making, at all levels and in all stages of the process, by the actors who normally participate in decision-making. Gender equality as an issue and as a perspective should be central to the agendas of operations and not exist as a side track in the form of special councils or individual coordinators. Publicly governed activities should be fair, equally distributed, and of the same quality for everyone, regardless of gender.
Why gender equality?
Gender equality in higher education is a crucial building block in working towards the gender equality policy goal of ensuring that women and men have equal power to shape society and their own lives. It is also aligned with the goal of higher education that education and research at universities and colleges should be of high quality and conducted efficiently. There are numerous examples of issues related to universities and colleges that are characterized by unequal conditions: research funding, salary disparities, employment conditions, career paths, merit systems, sick leave rates, and study choices.
An approach and a climate that emphasize gender equality as a core value are significant in Luleå University of Technology's pursuit of its vision to conduct research and education of the highest quality, to have dynamic collaboration with the surrounding society, and to secure competence supply by attracting and retaining the best employees.
If you click on the links below, you will get more in-depth knowledge about gender equality.
- Regeringskansliet
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The Government's initiative on gender equality at Swedish higher education institutions
- The Government's goals for gender equality
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Description of the six sub-goals the Government has set for gender equality policy.
- National Secretariat for Gender Research
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Gender equality in the higher education sector.
- Universitetskanslersämbetet (UKÄ)
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Statistical database on gender distribution in higher education. - Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers (SULF)
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Work for a more equal academic sector - Collaborative effort between different actors
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Practical examples and concrete tools for gender equality work
Plan for gender mainstreaming
At the request of the government, the university will continue its work on gender mainstreaming in order to contribute to achieving the gender equality policy goals.
A plan for gender mainstreaming has been developed with the aim of concretizing and clarifying how the university works with gender mainstreaming and which activities will be given special focus.
Supplements and revisions to the existing plan may be made continuously.
- Plan for gender mainstreaming
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- Direction for the work on gender mainstreaming (Swe)
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Web-based training on ender mainstreaming
"Gender mainstreaming in the public sector in 60 minutes" provides a first orientation on what gender mainstreaming is. It also shows how gender mainstreaming can improve the quality of the work done every day by public authorities, regions and municipalities.
The course sheds light on the public sector's responsibility, but also the opportunity to contribute to a more equal society. You will get examples of what gender mainstreaming can be about, an introduction to the policies that gender mainstreaming should contribute to, and a final insight into how gender equality work is carried out in two of the country's authorities.
The course is mandatory for all employees at Luleå University of Technology. It is about one hour long. If you do not want to take the entire course at once, you can leave and continue where you were when you left, provided you have created a user account.
- Jämställdhetsintegrering i offentlig sektor
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Link to login (at Jämställdhetsmyndigheten). You must create your own account in order to complete the training.
Gender equality in our programs and general postgraduate courses
The university has decided that teaching and learning objectives for gender equality will be introduced in all degree programs at the university.
Knowledge of gender equality will also be included in the general postgraduate courses.
The former deans of the Faculty of Engineering and Philosophy, Lena Abrahamsson and Lars Nyberg, have held a lecture on this subject, thus providing an opportunity for course leaders, examiners and other teachers to receive skills development, support and concrete tools in this area.
Stops in recruitment
Since 2013, the university has worked based on stops in recruitment.
The model came about in the project Gender-aware and sustainable competence supply at LTU, which was carried out in 2012-2013 in collaboration between gender researchers and the competence supply process actors at the university.
The stops visualize and concretize the recruitment process in a flow from when a recruitment is planned until a person is hired, and highlights the questions that the recruitment group should ask themselves in the different phases of the recruitment to work gender-conscious. At each stage of the process, the recruitment team is encouraged to stop and reflect before making important decisions.
The stopping point model can be applied in all recruitments, both in academia and in operational support, and it is the recruiting manager who is responsible for ensuring that this happens in all recruitments except for the recruitment of professors and subject representatives, where the HR specialist who sits in the recruitment group ensures that the model is applied.

Contact
Tommy Viklund
- Head of Division
- 0920-493694
- tommy.viklund@ltu.se
- Tommy Viklund
Celina Falk
- HR-specialist
- 0920-493401
- celina.falk@ltu.se
- Celina Falk
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