Higher education and genre at the University of Cuenca: Current situation and perspectives

This research project arises from the group "Genre, Democracy and Society" of the Sociology career of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences of the University of Cuenca The general objective of the project is to "analyze the social and political situation of teachers, employees and workers at the University of Cuenca from a gender perspective", for being a human group little studied in the Academy and that in the case of the University of Cuenca ascends to 897 women of a total of 1915 (2017). This issue is valid because history has shown that the structures, norms, levels and social relations within the university have been configured patriarchal and are strongly marked by gender social and cultural constructions, which have led to unequal access by men and women to academic opportunities for teaching, research and administrative management, but above all for the management of power and decision making. With this perspective, the research is mixed and will be developed in four moments, in the first place quantitative information from secondary sources and direct surveys to teachers, employees and workers will be raised, to know the existing situation and gender gaps, in a second moment the realization of interviews of a qualitative type is proposed to know the perceptions and meanings that women give to their vital experience in the university; Subsequently, a comparative analysis will be carried out that allows us to understand the naturalization or not of gender constructions in university women themselves, product of their socialization. Finally, the research contemplates the participatory elaboration of a proposal of politics, strategies and actions to promote equal opportunities between men and women at the University of Cuenca, since the quality of a university is also evidenced at the level of equity between its members. The investigation has the financial support of the Municipality of Cuenca and also will lead to relationships with various spaces and entities that work for gender equity, such as women, Flacso and the Higher Education and Genre of Ecuador RESGER Network, promoted by Senescyt

OUT OF CALL – INTERNAL FUNDS