Amaia Lusa

Universities play a crucial role in advancing gender equality by implementing gender equality plans (GEPs). A key element of these plans is gender‐in‐teaching training for educators, which equips them to integrate gender dimensions into their subjects. This initiative benefits students by challenging entrenched gender norms and stereotypes and fostering more inclusive and humanized learning experiences. Particularly in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), such training is essential in promoting equal opportunities and dismantling biases. To determine effective approaches for designing these transformative programs, action research was conducted across seven online training programs involving over 140 educators from seven Spanish universities. The research identified best practices and challenges educators face when integrating gender perspectives into teaching, along with strategies to overcome these barriers. Effective solutions included defining gender‐related activities tailored to individual subjects and providing ongoing, personalized support to educators. The findings emphasize that sustained support through well‐structured, online gender‐in‐teaching programs is vital for authentic curriculum transformation. Personalized content and collaborative approaches enable educators to critically reflect on their teaching practices and implement meaningful changes. These initiatives not only enhance gender sensitivity in education but also contribute to broader societal transformation towards gender equality. This research offers practical insights for institutions looking to bridge policy and practice through GEPs, ensuring lasting impact in higher education and fostering equitable, inclusive learning environments.

Purpose: This paper aims at introducing the importance and the relevant concepts and tools for including gender dimension in teaching, with a special focus in the Operations Management knowledge field.Design/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on a literature review and on the knowledge and experience of the authors in teaching in the field of Operations Management and designing and implementing trainings and pilot programs for including gender dimension in teaching and.Findings: Even if there already exist some general guidelines for including gender dimension in teaching and in some countries the law requires the inclusion of gender dimension in high education, the effective inclusion of gender dimension in teaching is still in a very preliminary stage. Moreover, there are not specific studies focused on the Operations Management field.Research limitations/implications: Even if the authors have wide experience in the field, the proposals have not been applied to many courses so there is no empirical evidence of the achieved results.Practical implications: The paper can be useful for people teaching in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management courses’, as it gives not only some general guidelines and concepts but also specific examples that can be directly applied to their courses.Social implications: Including gender dimension in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management courses, which are still male dominated, can help achieving the SDG 5, which is focused on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Specifically, including gender dimension in teaching allow breaking stereotypes, changing the image of the knowledge field, empowering female students and giving both men and women tools for including the gender dimension in their professional careers.Originality/value: There exist some general guidelines for including gender dimension in teaching but, to the best of our knowledge, there is no any specific work that is focused on the Operations Management knowledge field.

Information about the paper titled "LEARNINGS FROM GENDER IN TEACHING COURSES: MAIN NEEDS AND RESISTANCES" at IATED Digital Library