Description
The proposed Project, entitled: Gender Equality in the Workforce: Reconciling work, private and family life in Greek Industries, has the following objectives: • Collection, Review and Analysis of Policy Documents and Legal Framework on the reconciliation of work, private and family life. • Production of reliable results on time use by integrating a Gender Perspective for the first time in Greece, via the analysis of data provided by the Hellenic Statistical Authority. • Conduction of primary field research (qualitative and quantitative) on representative sample of women employees in Greek Industry and employers. • Development of policy recommendations according to Project’s findings on the reconciliation of work, private and family life. • Knowledge development and exchange of experience and good practices between Greek Industries and Industries of Iceland exposed by EDDA Centre of Excellence. • Promotion of knowledge and excellence in the field of Gender Research.
Summary of project results
The main reasons for the underrepresentation of women in various employment sectors is the difficulty of reconciling work and family life. In particular, in the industrial sector, which is a male-dominated sector, it is necessary and essential to promote and strengthen the role of women and the promotion of equal opportunities and balanced representation of men and women. Taking into account the above, the main idea of the project based on the emerging challenges during the economic crisis period. The value-added contributions of the project base on the production of reliable results on time use by integrating a Gender Perspective for the first time in Greece and the combined and complementary use of quantitative and qualitative methods as the most effective. The Project’s Objectives were: • Collection, Review and Analysis of Policy Documents and Legal Framework on the reconciliation of work, private and family life. • Production of reliable results on time use by integrating a Gender Perspective for the first time in Greece, via the analysis of data provided by the Hellenic Statistical Authority. • Conduction of primary field research (qualitative and quantitative) on representative sample of women employees in Greek Industry and employers. • Development of policy recommendations according to Project’s findings on the reconciliation of work, private and family life. • Knowledge development and exchange of experience and good practices between Greek Industries and Industries of Iceland exposed by EDDA Centre of Excellence. • Promotion of knowledge and excellence in the field of Gender Research. In the framework of the project the following deliverables were produced: 1.1. Scientific Coordination and Project Management 1.2. Field Research 1.3. Policy Recommendations 1.4. Evaluation of the Project 2.1. Literature Review and Policy Analysis Reconciling work, private and family life 2.2. Meta-Analysis of Data on Time Budget Survey Workshop Joint Action on reconciling work, private and family life Good Practices The project certainly contributed to the sustainability of R&D activities in the field and had a positive effect, since they provided new information and knowledge regarding work-life balance based on time use as well as on primary data in the Greek Industries during the economic crisis. The Policy Recommendations provided useful tools for researchers, stakeholders, policy makers and all the interested parties.
Summary of bilateral results
The EDDA - Center at the University of Iceland has a great research experience on gender equality and had already collaborated successfully with the Partner Panteion University. The cooperation between the Greek partners and the donor partner was established via email and telephone communication. Also, through the study visit of the representatives of KETHI and Panteion University in Iceland in order to set the work schedule and exchange with the Project Partner and the participation in the workshop and the visit of a representative/gender expert of EDDA in Athens who exchanged information and good practices from Iceland, that were developed by industries during the economic crisis period in order to facilitate employees to reconcile work, private and family life. The involvement of a donor partner from Iceland in the framework of the bilateral relations was very important and brought an added value to the Project, since Iceland is the only Scandinavian country (a country of similar scale to Greece) that faced the consequences of the economic crisis, managed to recover and preserved its social model. Iceland’s paradigm was an effective example for Greece and a Good Practice that was useful. Networking and exchange of experience with “EDDA - Center at the University of Iceland” which is an interdisciplinary research Center of Excellence was vital for the successful implementation of the proposed Project. The project gave an opportunity to both countries to exchange information and share their experiences and practices regarding the reconciliation of work and private life in Greece and in Iceland. The fruitful exchange between experts from both countries strengthened the bilateral relations and offered new perspectives for future cooperation on gender equality issues.