30 years of women's representatives at Hessian universities - Kassel leads the way

On April 1, 1989, Dr. Helga Adolphs, a sports scientist, was appointed women's representative at the then Kassel Comprehensive University. This happened even before the Hessian Equal Rights Act came into force in the mid-1990s and made women's representatives mandatory for universities. At the time, female students and employees from the academic mid-level faculty in particular lobbied for the establishment of such a position in Kassel.

"At the time, our university was one of the first in Hesse to embark on a path that other universities followed and that is far from over," says Kassel University President Prof. Reiner Finkeldey. "For example, it is important to further increase the proportion of women in professorships and to see the increasing diversity of personnel not only as a challenge, but as a great opportunity."

A brochure published on the occasion of the anniversary presents how the tasks have changed in the meantime: The former "Office of the Women's Representative" is now called the "Women's and Equal Opportunity Office." Under the direction of Dr. Sylke Ernst for over six years, it has been active in the areas of gender equality, family and diversity. "Equality work is now an integral and self-evident part of the university, and the equality strategies are continuously being developed. In this context, men as well as questions of the interaction of gender with other diversity categories are also in the focus of our gender equality work," says Dr. Ernst.

"We are clearly committed to a diverse university that understands and promotes diversity as an essential resource for success. We will always make this stance clear, even and especially in times when the equality of biographies and life plans is questioned by some," adds Finkeldey.

"30 years of women's representatives - women's advancement - equality work" on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, 6 - 9 p.m. at the University of Kassel's Gießhaus, Mönchebergstraße 5.

More about the event can be found here.

Contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communication, Press and Public Relations
Tel: +49 561 804-1961
Email: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
www.uni-kassel.de
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