Gender Imbalances at the Meso-Level: Gathering Insights Through Interviews with Key Informants and Researchers

By drawing from 4 types of data collected ad hoc within each MINDtheGEPs' implementing partners, this report assumes a pivotal role in enriching our comprehension of gender equality within diverse contexts. It was first shared as a deliverable from the project titled D2.2 Report on gender imbalances at meso-level. After anonymization of results, in order to facilitate reading, this report has been divided into three sub-reports: Gender Imbalances at the Meso-Level: A Multi-Indicator Approach to Organisational Gender Data, Gender Imbalances at the Meso-Level: Gathering Insights from Researchers Through a Web Survey, and Gender Imbalances at the Meso-Level: Gathering Insights Through Interviews with Key Informants and Researchers. In this report, Gender Imbalances at the Meso-Level: Gathering Insights Through Interviews with Key Informants and Researchers, we share the results from our qualitative interviews with key informants (such as rectors and vice rectors, departmental directors; members of competition commissions; the president of Equal Opportunities bodies). They reveal much about the way excellence and merit are defined in partner organisations and how gender biases are viewed. Qualitative interviews with researchers (both early and advanced careers, male and female, representing both STEMM and SSH fields) reveal the causes that men and women see behind their more or less "successful" career, the fatigue they face in getting a stable or higher position, postponing or giving up to private life projects, and the changes they would wish to see towards a more inclusive, innovative, and less stressful science production and environment.