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Gender Equality​

at the Faculty of Management and Economics

GENDER EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

Gender equal opportunities for women and men is a central strategic goal for the Faculty of Management and Economics as well as for the entire Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The Faculty of Management and Economics and the Rectorate of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum therefore regularly set out the faculty’s goals and achievements with regard to the promotion of gender equal opportunities for women and men in the target agreement on gender equal opportunities.

 

The Faculty of Management and Economics has been participating in the Lore Agnes projects of the RUB since 2016. With the projects carried out, we want to counteract the “glass ceiling” that still keeps women out of leading positions in the economy. Female students, doctoral candidates and graduates are given the opportunity to expand their personal profile with regard to leading positions in business and science and to supplement the knowledge they have acquired at the university with relevant key competences. 

In this way, the Faculty of Management and Economics would like to prepare female students as well as former female employees as well as employers in business and science and encourage them to use their acquired qualifications specifically for a career. Our goal is to qualify women during their studies for leadership roles, in which they are currently underrepresented, and to compensate for possible weaknesses at an early stage. One of the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in business are the existing power and management structures. Often women are simply or even deliberately overlooked for promotions. Many women also fail to take advantage of career opportunities due to their own blockades, too little self-marketing and too much self-doubt, and tend to hold back when it comes to senior positions, while their male colleagues confidently take these steps. The Faculty of Management and Economics wants to encourage female students, doctoral candidates and graduates to use their acquired qualifications specifically for a career through targeted preparation.

 

If you would like to find out more about the Lore Agnes projects and the gender equality measures of the Faculty of Management and Economics, please contact: wiwi-gleichstellung@rub.de

COMMENT BOX

Do you have questions or suggestions on the topic of gender equality or have you been discriminated against because of your gender?
Then please feel free to contact the faculty’s central gender equality address. Your information will of course be treated confidentially.

LORES AGNES PROJECTS

The Faculty of Management and Economics has been participating in the Lore Agnes Projects of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum since 2016. With the aim of creating equal opportunities for women and men, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum funds innovative gender equality projects every year. An overview of all Lore Agnes projects at the RUB that have been funded so far, as well as further information and contact persons, can be found on the pages of the Lore Agnes Program. All gender equality projects carried out by the Faculty of Management and Economics within the framework of the Lore Agnes projects are part of the faculty’s target agreement on gender equality. One of the main goals is to support and promote female students, graduates and employees of the faculty in their individual career planning and career entry. With the workshops, we specifically address women – Why only women? Because experience has shown that women as well as men quickly establish a trusting, open and thus very constructive working atmosphere among themselves – uninfluenced by the gender aspect – and their special concerns can be given sufficient space. Gender equality projects carried out so far by the Faculty of Management and Economics:

Alumni Career Talk
(Winter semester 2019/20)

Two alumni of the faculty, Dr. Katja Lonnemann (Chargé de Mission IM Packaged Gases Operations, AIR LIQUIDE Deutschland GmbH) and Dr. Regina Flake (Team Leader Competence Field Professional Qualification and Specialists, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e.V.), presented their professional career and current field of activity to the female students and graduates of the faculty during the event "Alumni Career Talk". In an open exchange with the speakers, tips could be exchanged and challenges that women face in the professional world could be discussed.

Competence development for professional success

The aim of the seminar series is to prepare the participants for the professional requirements
on the part of future employers and thus to lay a solid foundation for further career steps.
To this end, the following three central areas of competence are worked on during the seminar:
Professional competence, personal competence and social competence.
1| Professional competence - "Fit through the assessment centre and more: Mastering professional requirements in a targeted manner!" (Job requirements of employers and the "Assessment Centre"; Holland's RIASEC model; professional personality model according to Hossiep and Paschen; digitalisation and diversity management)

2| Personal competence - The "Big Five" of personality: Using self-reflection for a successful career!" (Big Five model; self-reflection with systemic questions; competence profile with feedback circle; identifying potentials and development areas with a view to career)

3| Social competence - "Working in a team: only together are we strong!" (Team building according to Tuckman; Nine stages of conflict escalation according to Glas: Recognising, dealing with and resolving conflicts; Communicating without violence according to Rosenberg; Negotiating according to the Harvard concept)

The speaker of the workshop series is Prof. Dr. Kerstin Bruns (Professor of General Business Administration, especially Leadership and Organisation, FOM; freelance systemic consultant and organisational developer).

Workshops in the summer semester 2019
and winter semester 2019/20

In the winter semester 2019/20, four one-day workshops were held for female students,
doctoral candidates and graduates of the faculty. The speaker of all four workshops was
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Bruns (Professor of General Business Administration,
especially Leadership and Organisation, FOM;
freelance systemic consultant and organisational developer).
The workshop series was dedicated to the following topics:

Proper networking - how does it work? – The focus of this workshop was on the structured planning of "networking" in the three areas of "personality, relationship, system". In the process, the participants work out a personal networking concept on an application-oriented basis in exchange with each other.

Avoiding burnout and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is the basis for good self-management and professional success. – In this workshop, the participants had the opportunity to get to know some "tools" with which they can ensure a work-life balance in the long term. These tools include: the time balance model, the burnout clock, etc.

Being a boss yourself – How do I become a founder? - Women and Start-Ups: How can women establish and maintain themselves as founders? The content of this workshop included the analysis of start-up difficulties or fears, especially among women, of taking the step into self-employment and working out proposals for action.

Successful appearance at university and at work - In this workshop, students worked on confident appearance and presentation techniques through rhetoric as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. The students' individual awareness of their own competences, charisma and persuasiveness was developed and development opportunities identified. In addition, there were tips for planning one's personal career and preparing for job interviews.

"Career Planning for Women in Business & Science" -
Workshops in the Summer Semester 2018

In the summer semester 2018, four one-day workshops
were held for female students, doctoral candidates and graduates of the faculty. The speakers at the
workshops were Prof. Dr. Kerstin Bruns
(Professor of General Business Administration,
in particular Leadership and Organisation, FOM;
freelance systemic consultant and
organisational developer) and Dr. Solmaz Alevifard
(economist, freelance coach and founder of
DR. ALEVIFARD AKADEMIE, Academy for Female Empowerment)
The workshop series was dedicated to the following topics:

- Conflict management in the workplace
- Gender sensitisation in business
- Career entry and the perception of women in economic professions
- Confident appearance and external impact in the economic work environment

Team up! - Interdisciplinary career planning for women
at the Faculty of Management and Economics,
the Faculty of Social Sciences and
the Faculty of Law (summer semester 2018)

Be a Teamplayer - The ability to work in a team is one of the most sought - after soft skills in both academia
and the private sector - it is required as a core competence in almost every job advertisement.
However, what may not sound very complex at first can become a downfall in professional practice. This is because it does not always refer only to working with colleagues from the same professional background. More and more often, professional boundaries are crossed when working together on a project. But what does it mean to work with colleagues from other disciplines? How can interdisciplinary cooperation create added value in terms of content? What conflicts are encountered when different subject cultures and rhetorics clash, and how can they be resolved? Above all, the question arises: How can I best assert myself in heterogeneous teams and use my expertise in a targeted manner? The two-part workshop series "Team up! Interdisciplinary career planning for female students at the Faculty of Management and Economics, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law" dealt intensively with these questions and offered the opportunity to gain initial practical experience in interdisciplinary cooperation. The speakers Ulrike Schultz (Akademische Oberrätin a.D., Faculty of Law, FernUniversität in Hagen) and Lana Kohnen (Gender Studies, M.A., Expert in Diversity Management) showed in their workshops how one can optimally use one's own skills and strengths and remain assertive even in a male-dominated team. They also discussed how to achieve a targeted result in interdisciplinary groups and how to create an interdisciplinary, equal communication culture. Due to the professional intersections of economics, social science and law, the participants had the unique opportunity to exchange ideas and establish initial networks before entering the working world. The workshop series consisted of two one-day workshops each, which were offered exclusively to female students of the Faculty of Management and Economics, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law: Workshop "Me and the others - to a we" - basics for applications in interdisciplinary working areas, successful teamwork and strategies for advancement Workshop "Not without (m)a team?". Conflict potential and synergy effects of interdisciplinary teams" - Conflict potential and synergy effects in interdisciplinary teams.

"Career Planning for Women in Business & Science" -
Workshops in the Summer Semester 2018

In the summer semester 2018, four one-day workshops
were held for female students, doctoral candidates and graduates of the faculty.
The speakers at the workshops were Prof. Dr. Kerstin Bruns
(Professor of General Business Administration,
in particular Leadership and Organisation, FOM;
freelance systemic consultant and organisational developer)
and Dr. Solmaz Alevifard (economist, freelance coach and
founder of DR. ALEVIFARD AKADEMIE, Academy for Female Empowerment)
The workshop series was dedicated to the following topics:

Conflict management in the workplace – recognising the course of conflicts and types of conflicts / Breaking the "vicious circle" in communication / Giving constructive feedback - also to the boss / Listening actively and saying yes & no.

Gender sensitisation in business – communication between men and women: communicating vertically and horizontally / Arrogance principle in everyday work / Mixed leadership: leadership styles of men and women / Networking: Who does it and how successfully?

Career entry and the perception of women in economic professions - The role of gender in working life / Gender differences in the work context / Impact of gender stereotypes on one's own behaviour / Success factors for career entry and an individual career path

Confident appearance and external impact in the economic work environment - verbal and non-verbal communication / charisma / external impact / persuasiveness / dealing with difficult questions in meetings etc.

"Career planning for women in business & science" -
workshops in winter semester 2017/18
and summer semester 2018

In the winter semester 2017/18 and summer semester 2018,
four one-day workshops were held for female students,
doctoral candidates and graduates of the faculty. The speakers at the workshops
were Prof. Dr. Kerstin Bruns (Professor of General Business Administration,
in particular Leadership and Organisation, FOM;
freelance systemic consultant and organisational developer) and
Dr. Solmaz Alevifard (economist, freelance coach
and founder of DR. ALEVIFARD AKADEMIE, Academy for Female Empowerment)
The workshop series was dedicated to the following topics:

Career planning in business (2x) - Two workshops on this topic were aimed at female students and PhD students of the faculty. The participants in this workshop developed an individual competence profile with a career plan. In addition, the focus was on developing their own competence awareness and sensitising them to gender issues.

Appearance in Business: Rhetoric & Confident Body Language - The focus of this workshop was the importance and influence of rhetoric and body language for communication in a business context. The students learned to generate an awareness of their own skills in rhetoric and body language and to identify potential and areas for development with a view to their career plan.

Negotiation in an economic context - In the last workshop, the participants were able to identify their personal negotiation style and get to know and analyse currently important negotiation fields. In addition, the students had the opportunity to work out suitable negotiation strategies and tactics for future projects.

Contact

Group of Professors

Group of administrative staff