Find information on how to make a Protected Disclosure under the external procedures in place in the HEA.
In 2019, the Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality was established in the HEA. The Centre’s objective is to ensure sustainable acceleration towards gender equality through centralised support for higher education institutions and dissemination of good practice. In 2020, the Centre transformed into the Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
The Centre runs a number of important gender equality initiatives, including the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative, a national call which first launched in 2019.
The Centre engages with HEIs on the Athena Swan Ireland charter, a framework which is used across the world to support and transform gender equality in higher education and research. In this context, the Centre represents the HEA in the Athena Swan Ireland National Committee.
Between 2020 and 2023, the Centre awarded funding annually to higher education institutions to advance gender equality initiatives in Irish higher education under the Gender Equality Enhancement Fund. In 2024, this fund was expanded to address the wider policy areas that the HEA and HEIs are addressing in work to advance equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education. The Centre launched the inaugural funding under the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Enhancement Fund 2024.
Background:
In 2015, in Ireland 81% of professorial positions were held by men and, while women represented 62% of non-academic staff, 72% of the highest paid non-academic staff were male. The under-representation of women among staff in higher education, particularly at senior levels, is an intractable problem internationally.
In this context, the HEA National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions was published in 2016. Since then, the Athena Swan Charter has been extended to Ireland implementing the recommendations of the Report of the Expert Group.
In the same year, the HEA published the first Institutional Staff Profiles by Gender. The profiles have been compiled and published every year since. These publications, and other publications by the Centre, are available to download from the HEA website.
In 2017, Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor T.D. established the Gender Equality Taskforce to identify significant measures, drawing on the work of the HEA Expert Group, which could accelerate progress in achieving gender equality in Irish HEIs. This Taskforce developed the Gender Action Plan 2018-2020 building on the report of the Expert Group and recommended a number of initiatives to progress organisation and cultural change.
In line with the recommendation of 2016 Report the HEA, along with an external Expert Group, conducted a Second Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions over the course of 2022. The Second Review assessed the progress made since the 2016 Review and the perception of gender equality among HEI staff and make recommendations to ensure the continued advancement of gender equality in the higher education sector. The Review was undertaken in close partnership with the higher education sector and in consultation with relevant stakeholders. The Expert Group findings and recommendations have now been published in the Report of the Expert Group: 2nd HEA National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions.