Making Viadrina gender-equitable

Designing structures and processes in a gender-equitable way

With its concept for diversity orientation and equal opportunities, Viadrina aims to individually support women, trans*, inter* and non-binary people. At the same time, the university's structures and processes should be designed and developed in such a way that everyone is heard and seen, has their say and can participate. This applies, for example, to representation and participation in committees, but also to the committee culture itself, which should be designed in such a way that everyone can participate and have the opportunity to speak.

Another field is gender and diversity aspects in teaching: it is a task for the teaching staff in the Faculties to include and consider these throughout and to reflect on them in a subject-specific way.

Gender-equitable language continues to be a much-discussed topic. The Gender Equality Office provides information and sensitises students, lecturers and staff to this issue.

More info

Since 2011, Viadrina has had an Equal Opportunities Council that brings together stakeholders on the topic of equality. Following the Diversity Audit 2021 and the comprehensive new concept for diversity orientation and equal opportunities, it was expanded to become the Gender Equality and Diversity Council in order to take account of networking and joint processing of concerns. It is responsible for coordinating and evaluating the measures and objectives set out in the concept.

Permanent members are:

Presidential member
Central and decentralised Gender Equality Officers
Family Affairs Officer
Diversity manager
Anti-discrimination officer
AStA Officer for Social Affairs and Anti-Discrimination
Representative for the interests of members and relatives with disabilities
Health manager
Representative of the International Affairs department
Representative of the University Communication Department

Non-permanent members from the Faculties and other departments are involved on a topic-oriented basis.

Women scientists are often involved in committees. This is also expected of them, but increased committee work is often not viewed positively in the academic career. In order to encourage and relieve the burden on women and people who have not been represented or are underrepresented in committee work, Viadrina has set itself the goal of changing the committee culture and developing opportunities to relieve the burden. These include, for example:

Targeted outreach to women, trans*, inter* and non-binary people, people with a family history of migration, people affected by racism and people with disabilities
Introduction of new members
Knowledge management, documented handovers
Strengthened networking of members
Flexible and hybrid formats
Breaks
More frequent but shorter meetings
Good moderation (speaking lists if necessary)
Support from assistants if necessary
Further education

If you would like to get involved - in the Senate, Faculty Council, StuPa, AStA or also in appointment committees or as a decentralised Gender Equality Office - contact the committees, contact us! We are happy to answer your questions.

At Viadrina, gender and diversity-related topics are primarily dealt with in the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences. The elective module Gender Studies and Queer Theory is anchored in the Master's degree programme in Soziokulturelle Studien. The Professorships of Comparative Cultural and Social Anthropology, Language Use and Migration, Cultural Philosophy/Philosophy of Cultures, Comparative Political Science and Theories of the Arts and Media in particular offer seminars on these topics.

Links:

Professorship for Comparative Cultural and Social Anthropology

Professorship for Language Use and Migration

Professorship for Cultural Philosophy/Philosophy of Cultures

Professorship for Comparative Politics

Junior Professorship for Theories of Arts and Media - Professorship André Rottmann

In the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, gender references can be found in the areas of Marketing, Economic and Social Policy as well as Human Resources, Labour & Management.

Links:

Professorship of Business Administration, in particular Marketing

Professorship of Business Administration, in particular Human Resources, Labour & Management

Professorship of Economics, in particular Public Economics

At the Faculty of Law, gender aspects are dealt with particularly in the area of labour law as well as Mediation and Conflict Management.

Links:

Chair of Civil Law, German and European Labour Law

Professorship for Mediation, Conflict Management and Procedural Theory

Viadrina is committed to using gender-inclusive language so that all members of the university feel addressed and represented.

In 2025, the Presidium updated its recommendations regarding language use to reflect changes and to ensure a certain level of consistency within Viadrina.
Neutral terms such as Redepult (instead of Rednerpult, both meaning "lectern") or continuous forms like Studierende (instead of "students" using gendered forms) continue to be recommended. If neutral alternatives are not available, gender-inclusive formulations using the asterisk (so-called gender star), such as Professorinnen* (instead of "Professorinnen und Professoren" – female and male professors), should be used.

These recommendations are binding for documents in which Viadrina communicates as an institution. However, the personal language use of Viadrina members is explicitly not affected by this, this especially applies to teaching and learning situations, exams, and other forms of communication. Performance assessments must not be influenced by the use or non-use of gender-inclusive language.

A new guide will be developed over the course of the year. For students, some information is available in the “Handbook ‘’,"University for everyone?" which is also available in English.
If you have questions or would like support with gender-inclusive language, feel free to contact the team of Gender Equality Officers.