Equal Career Paths for Women – NOW!
Finnish labour market is among the most gender segregated in the EU. Women head for professions in education and care, whereas men are directed to technology and logistics. Within different fields, the segregation continues and manifests itself as differences in jobs, wages, and career paths. Gender segregation is present especially in the fields of technology, business, and security. Striving for more equality and less segregation is necessary.
However, this aim is impossible without a constructive discussion culture. This calls for recognizing and acknowledging the key problems regarding equality and willingness to amend them. Equal Career Paths for Women – NOW! project aims to support and promote equal employment and career development for women. The focus is on vertical equality in three fields: technology, business, as well as security and risk management.
The project produces new and topical knowledge about the causes and consequences of gender segregation in Finnish working life and – especially in the field of technology – creates, pilots and consolidates new forms of study and career counseling, career services and entrepreneurial support for female students and professionals. Various activities help the formation of peer networks and the development of practices which promote equality and diversity of professions.
The concrete objectives of the Equal Career Paths for Women – NOW! project are
1) to produce and disseminate knowledge regarding equality and gender parity
2) develop and disseminate the best practices in gender awareness study and career counseling, develop female students’ working life contacts, and support the universities to draw up and implement equality plans
3) support the careers and entrepreneurship of females with higher education, and
4) increase the knowledge on unconscious bias among the universities and companies.
Good communications throughout the project help to disseminate knowledge and good practices among the project partners and within the society during and after the project period.
The project is coordinated by Tampere University of Applied Sciences TAMK, and it is implemented by three Universities (Aalto, LUT and Tampere), five Universities of Applied Sciences (TAMK, JAMK, Haaga-Helia, Laurea and Oamk) and trade union Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK.
