51% of Austrians are women. They are at least as well educated as men. 54% of students at Austrian universities are women, at our university the figure is 62%. But the share of professorships is only 34,5%. This disproportion is due to outdated patriarchal structures - we speak of a sexist, discriminatory deficit in university culture.

This situation is to be countered by our gender-oriented personnel development/training measures. The leading question when designing content is: How can women transform their scientific qualification into access to status in the scientific community?

The aim is to establish a gender symmetric culture at Graz Universities and to support gender equality measures.

Since 2001, when Graz University, Graz University of Technology, Graz Medical University and Graz University of Music and Performing Arts created the cooperation "Potentials", they have been working together to offer and implement gender-specific measures to promote women beyond the disciplines. The cooperation comprises a package of measures consisting mainly of continuing education seminars, orientation workshops for female students and graduates, application training and one-year career programs for female scientists and gender competence trainings for the whole staff.

For mentors and mentees of our university, we offer additional workshops, which provide fundamental as well as specific support for the mentoring process. A handbook was published in German and English. In addition we offer further training programs for students, executives, lecturers, and general staff in the form of workshops, seminars, and lectures. 

The current gender equality situation is measured in the form of the women's advancement reports and the brochure "Figures, Facts, Analyses", which gives a detailed description of gender relations at the University of Graz, interpretes them and points out where action is needed.