Gender Equality in Academia and Research
Latvia
PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY IN RESEARCH
Legal framework
Until October 2015, no national laws have been put in place in Latvia with regard to the promotion of gender equality in research.
Policy framework
Until October 2015, no national policies regarding the promotion of gender equality in research have been put in place in Latvia.
Other stimulatory initiatives
A partnership between UNESCO’s National Commission, the Latvian Academy of Sciences and L’Oreal Latvia is supporting the scholarship programme "Women in Science". This scholarship programme was launched in 2004 in Latvia and aims to support female scientists to pursue their research projects in the life sciences and material sciences.
Key actors
Considering the current inexistence of laws and policies promoting gender equality in research, no actors actively intervening in this area could be identified at this point.
INITIATIVES FOR GENDER EQUALITY BY RESEARCH PERFORMING ORGANISATIONS
Gender equality plans promoted by universities and research organisations have not been set up in Latvia yet.
RELEVANT EXAMPLES OF PRACTICES
Code of Ethics
The national research institute “National Botanic Gardens” developed a Code of Ethics in 2008. Section 4 “Self-development and mutual relationships”, particularly subsection 12, states: “The employer avoids and prevents harassment of another person on the grounds of race, gender/sex (in Latvian term ‘dzimums’ is used to refer to both sex and gender), age, national and religious affiliation or other”. Section 31 of code declares “at the beginning of his or her employment, the administration of the National Botanic Gardens familiarise the employee with the Code of Ethics”. Section 7 “Examination of violations of the code” describes the procedure for dealing and resolving violations of norms set by the Code of Ethics. The examination of the violation of the code of ethics is done by the Ethics Commission. This commission is composed of a representative from the administration and the union of the National Botanic Gardens. Neither the complaining party nor the employee can be on the Ethics Commission. Meetings held by Ethics Commission must be open. The Code of Ethics does not define any penalties for the violation of the code.