Portal Gender and Diversity in Teaching and Studying

Introduction: Gender and Diversity


Here you find a brief introduction to the basics of gender and diversity in the context of higher education.

Studying, teaching, researching and working does not occur in a vacuum: People bring their perspectives, their identifications, real or ascribed affiliations; world views and their conscious and unconscious experiences of discrimination and privilege to the university as well. Thus, social relations of power, inequality and difference also play a role in everyday life at a university and structure working relationships, research perspectives and teaching/learning relations.
The University of Göttingen has stated in its Diversity Strategy that she wishes to promote a culture of science and work that provides equal opportunities for all members of the University and encourages them to develop their talents and potential.
Gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or world views, disability or chronic illness, ethnic and social backgrounds and different cirkumstances of experience and life situations - these issues need be taken into account when it comes to taking people seriously in their different experiences and preventing discrimination and disadvantage.
Nevertheless, these categories should not play a role when it comes to a person’s ability to study, research and work - this has to be (best) possible for everyone.
The University of Göttingen is thus committed to recognising diversity as difference and as common ground, with realising educational opportunities and with creating an environment "in which stereotypes and prejudices are reflected upon and eliminated. All associates of the University of Göttingen should receive appreciation and support. Such an environment should contribute to enabling outstanding performance" (ibid.).
Hence, alongside digitalisation and internationalisation, diversity orientation is part of the Mission statement for Teaching and Learning at the University of Göttingen.

The phenomenon of the "leaky pipeline", i.e. the decreasing number of women at higher academic qualification levels and pay grades, has been well researched and is now relatively well known (Gesis/CEWS, in German). At the same time, the lower personal representation is accompanied by a so-called "gender pay gap", the gender-specific lower income of women while other variables are similar (Statistisches Bundesamt 2021, in German).
However, comparable phenomena in education and higher education can also be observed in relation to other social inequalities:
Statistically, 79 out of 100 children from academic families start a degree course, but only 27 out of 100 children from non-academic families (DZHW 2018, in German). Coming from households in which both parents have an academic degree children are even three times more likely to achieve a doctorate than children from non-academic households (Stifterverband & McKinsey, in German). Classism and class privilege in the higher education context have an impact on students' educational paths and experiences (Altieri/Hüttner 2020, Seeck/Theißl 2020). Health impairments "in interaction with existing barriers" become a problem for students when they result in "limitations to study and thus to participate“ ("im Wechselspiel mit bestehenden Barrieren zu Studienerschwernissen und damit zu Teilhabebeschränkungen” (DSW 2018:22, pdf, in German). To be able to successfully complete a study programme despite a study-impairing condition, students depend on "accessibility of rooms and buildings, certain spatial conditions, barrier-free documents, personnel support or technical aids." ("bauliche Barrierefreiheit der Räume und Gebäude, auf bestimmte räumliche Bedingungen, barrierefreie Dokumente, auf personelle Unterstützung oder auf technische Hilfsmittel") (ibid. 32). Black students and students of Colour experience individual/interpersonal and structural racism in universities, which affects their personal educational path. (Kubia 2015). Black professors and professors of Colour are still a miniscule minority at German universities (Auma/ Piorkowski 2020). Also for trans* and inter* students, higher education is a place where experiences of exclusion and discrimination can make studying difficult or impossible (AG trans*emanzipatorische Hochschulpolitik, 2018, pdf, in German).

Experiences of discrimination can have a negative influence on social integration and thus also on academic success (vgl. Ebert/ Heublein 2017:111, pdf, in German). 22 per cent of graduates and 18 per cent of dropouts “with a migration background” report experiences of discrimination at university (ebd.:66 und ADS 2020:9, pdf, in German). Students experience poorer performance evaluations at university in connection with their "ethnicity" (30,8 per cent), their social background/class (22.8 per cent), their age (17.3 per cent) (cf. Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes 2017: 305, pdf, in German), but especially in relation to theit gender (ibid. and ADS 2020:10, pdf, in German). They report bullying and belittling in connection with (ascribed) sexual orientation, appearance, ethnicity, gender, religion and belief and age (ibid.).

However, discrimination and privileging is not only about individual actions or attitudes, but also about an examination of the institution of the university as a whole, its role in and for society. Racial discrimination as an "immanent part of higher education" ("immanenter Teil der Hochschulen") (Ha 2016), as well as demands for de-colonial perspectives in teaching and studies, is only slowly becoming a topic that receives a broader public in Germany (ibid., cf. also Gutiérrez-Rodriguez/ Ha u.a., 2016, Kuria 2015).

Changing of framework conditions, dismantling structural barriers, examining stereotypes and exclusion - also as a subject of research and teaching, developing the awareness of members of the university - especially in teaching and administration as well as empowering those who are affected by discrimination are stated as important components in research on protection against discrimination and diversity at the university (ADS 2020, pdf (in German), Czock u.a. 2012, pdf (in German)). The complementary perspective should be added: that of power sharing, the (re)sharing of power and resources (see Rosenstreich 2006, Nassir-Shahnian 2020).

Genuinely “good teaching” is gender- and diversity-reflective and takes learners seriously in their experiences, perspectives and accesses. It is multifaceted and avoids “one size fits all” solutions that quickly lose sight of those who do not fit the image of the “normal student”.
Suggestions for this can be found on this portal, especially under "Communication in teaching", "Teaching and learning methods" und "Teaching contents". At the same time, gender- and diversity-reflective teaching is also about fulfilling legal requirements with regard to equal rights, equal opportunities and participation. You can find more information on this under "Legal foundations and guiding principles" (in German) weitere Informationen. In the portal, you will also find materials on gender and diversity in the framework conditions of study and teaching as well as suggestions for developing and reflecting on your own teaching activities.
Protection against discrimination, an orientation towards resources that members and affiliates of the university bring with them, and ensuring equal opportunities belong together in gender- and diversity-reflective teaching. The goal and practice is both to recognize the diversity that already exists at the university and to open up further accesses and spaces in order to increasingly better reflect the diversity of society as a whole in the university as well and to reduce inequality in accesses, power and resources.

In order not to reproduce asymmetries and power relations in their own teaching, but rather to uncover them and work against them, teachers need not only supportive institutional frameworks, but also theoretical knowledge about discrimination, privilege and diversity, as well as the ability for (self-)reflection and the skill to be able to put this knowledge into practice in concrete situations. Thus, gender and diversity reflective teaching is not about a ready-made catalog of things to do or not to do, but also about developing a stance. For an overview that illustrates this, see " Teaching reflectively".

With reference to educational work on and in the context of multiple intertwined power relations, Urmila Goel and Alice Stein write in this regard:
[own translation] "Building up and always developing such a [power-critical] stance is the basis for people being able to assess situations in a power-critical way, to act on this in a way that is appropriate to the situation, and also to recognize and change (their own) problematic actions. ... For the development of a power-critical attitude it is important to know what exactly I criticize, what I want to change and achieve. I need to develop an understanding of the power relationship or the intertwining of power relationships, be able to formulate this for myself and apply it to concrete situations. ... To develop a critical stance towards power, however, a theoretical understanding of different power relations and their interconnections as well as the ability to recognize them and to think them together is not sufficient. The ability to act in a power-critical way also requires the ability to locate oneself in the power relations and their interconnections. One's own entanglements, one's own powerful and marginalized positioning must be reflected upon in order to be able to recognize one's own role in the (re)production of power relations and one's own vulnerabilities. Only in this way can a positioned attention to exclusions and (re)productions of power relations be achieved, can positioned possibilities of intervention and resistance be learned." Translated from: Goel/ Stein 2012.

(Original: "Eine solche [machtkritische] Haltung aufzubauen und immer weiterzuentwickeln, ist die Grundlage dafür, dass Menschen Situationen machtkritisch einschätzen, darauf aufbauend situationsgerecht handeln und auch (eigenes) problematisches Handeln erkennen und ändern können. ... Für das Entwickeln einer machtkritischen Haltung ist es wichtig, zu wissen, was genau ich kritisiere, was ich verändern und erreichen will. Ich muss ein Verständnis für das Machtverhältnis bzw. die Verflechtung von Machtverhältnissen entwickeln, muss dies für mich ausformulieren und auf konkrete Situationen anwenden können. ...
Zum Entwickeln einer machtkritischen Haltung reicht allerdings ein theoretisches Verständnis von verschiedenen Machtverhältnissen und deren Verflechtungen sowie die Fähigkeit, diese erkennen und zusammendenken zu können, nicht aus. Machtkritische Handlungsfähigkeit bedarf zusätzlich der Fähigkeit, sich selbst in den Machtverhältnissen und ihren Verflechtungen zu verorten. Die eigenen Verstrickungen, die eigenen machtvollen und marginalisierten Positionierungen müssen reflektiert werden, um die eigene Rolle in der (Re)Produktion von Machtverhältnissen und eigene Verletzlichkeiten erkennen zu können. Nur so kann eine positionierte Aufmerksamkeit für Ausschlüsse und (Re)Produktionen von Machtverhältnissen erreicht werden, können positionierte Interventions- und Widerstandsmöglichkeiten erlernt werden.") Goel/ Stein 2012.


On the pages of the portal you will find a variety of suggestions for reflection, for examining your own teaching, as well as "building blocks" for implementation.

Literature used and further resources (in German)
Last updated 13.02.2024.
From 1 September 2024, the portal will no longer be updated for the time being.