ABSTRACT
The implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) involves radical structural change in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). To facilitate this, a change management model was designed to aid adoption and integration of GEPs, based on experiences, learning and outputs of the FP7 INstitutional Transformation for Effecting Gender Equality in Research (INTEGER). These were harnessed and built upon to produce the SAGE (Systemic Action for Gender Equality) wheel model. Adoption and implementation of the GEPs requires that they be embedded into the institutions’ structures, systems and cultures, followed by monitoring of activities and reacting with ongoing adjustments. The achievement of gender equality is both a challenge and a mechanism for change in academia, requiring systemic, integrated, long-term approaches. Teams are the drivers of the institutional change. Informed by Moss Kanter, Kotter’s 8-STEP Change Model was used and adapted to achieve structural change towards gender equality, drawing upon INTEGER experience in Trinity College, Dublin. This chapter outlines and discusses the Irish experience and concludes with an appraisal of how far the model can help accelerate change towards gender equality in universities.
