acatech receives equal opportunities award
Munich, 06 November 2019
In recognition of its successful, forward-looking and sustainable human resources policy, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering was presented with its first TOTAL E-QUALITY Award in Munich on 5 November. The awards ceremony was also hosted by the Academy.
At the awards ceremony, acatech President Dieter Spath stressed the importance of the gender dimension in the Academy’s work: “A broad range of perspectives is absolutely key to providing policymakers and society with advice that is in the public interest. This is one of the main reasons why we have set ourselves the goal of ensuring equal opportunities for men and women.”
The judges commended the family-friendly work environment at acatech and emphasised the fact that the Academy has made a concerted effort to address gender equality issues in recent years. They also recognised that acatech has established sound, evidence-based goals for increasing the representation of women going forward. These are set out in the Principles for Gender Equality at acatech that were adopted in 2018 and in the Gender Equality Action Plans for the Academy and its Secretariat. The fact that the Executive Board has taken on responsibility for gender equality issues will help to ensure implementation of the relevant goals and measures.
This year, a total of 60 associations and organisations from the private sector, academia and government received the TOTAL E-QUALITY Award. According to Eva Maria Roer, Chairwoman of TOTAL E-QUALITY Deutschland, “Our award winners’ leaders have realised that they will be more successful if they firmly embed equal opportunities and diversity in their organisations and put them into practice on a day-to-day basis. They are genuine trailblazers who are showing the way forward for the rest of society”.
The annual TOTAL-EQUALITY Awards have been run by TOTAL-EQUALITY Deutschland since 1997. This year’s awards ceremony was hosted by acatech. The award is granted to organisations that successfully complete a comprehensive application process and is valid for three years.