Equal Opportunities

The mpilhlt promotes the careers of all its staff irrespective of gender, nationality, religion, disability, age, ethnic background or sexual identity. We aim to create a work culture in which everybody can flourish and develop their individual abilities. The two main foci of our work are measures to promote gender equality and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Gender equality and the promotion of women’s careers

Despite the progress made in recent decades, gender equality is still far from being achieved in academia and research. Women are still underrepresented, particularly at leadership and higher salary levels. The Max Planck Society has therefore made the following voluntary commitment:

‘By 2030, the proportion of female researchers in leadership positions in the Max Planck Society is to increase by one percentage point per year. In addition, every Max Planck Institute has to have at least one female director.’

The mpilhlt has had a female Director since 2020. As of 31 December 2023, 60% of our researchers and two of three Heads of Research Groups were women.

Career development for women researchers

The Max Planck Society offers a number of targeted programmes to promote women female (early career) researchers. These include the MinervaFemmeNet mentoring programme, whose coordinator is based at our Institute.

Supporting research-supporting staff

While the proportion of women among Max Planck Society researchers is 34%, women are in the majority in non-scientific roles: 55% of research-supporting staff are female (mpilhlt: 59%). At the mpilhlt, we therefore implement gender equality measures not only for female researchers, but also for women working in the Service Departments, such as the Administration or Library.

Gender equity is not just for women

While measures to achieve gender equality for women remain a central part of efforts to achieve gender equality, people of other genders and gender identities experience discrimination, too, eg non-binary persons. Another important step to achieving gender equality is to spread care work more evenly and enable those with care responsibilities to reconcile work and family life.

Reconciliation of family and work life

For more information, visit https://www.lhlt.mpg.de/career/job-and-family-life.

Alliance ‘Together against sexism’

The Max Planck Society is a member of Gemeinsam gegen Sexismus, an alliance funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and implemented in cooperation with the EAF Berlin. Sexism is widespread in our society, and we also encounter it in the workplace. The members of the alliance want to take decisive action against this. The aim is to draw attention to what sexism and sexualised harassment are and to establish effective measures against them.

Protection against sexualised discrimination, harassment and violence

A link to the Max Planck Society’s guidelines regarding the protection against sexualised discrimination, harassment and violence on the left. Please note that the English version follows the German one in the pdf.

Gender Equality Plan

Every three years, the mpilhlt adopts a new gender equality plan, which contains information on the current gender equality situation at the Institute and outlines the measures to promote gender equality for the coming years. This plan is evaluated by a commission made up of the Max Planck Society‘s Central Gender Equality Officer and colleagues from other institutes and research organisations.

Gender Equality Officers

The Gender Equality Officers play an important role in the Max Planck Society’s efforts to work towards equal opportunities for all genders. They advise the Institute‘s management and raise awareness of issues surrounding gender equality. They also serve as confidential contact points for employees who experience sexualised discrimination, harassment or violence. Gender Equality Officers are elected by female staff every four years.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We seek to ensure that all members of the mpilhlt and guests conform to appropriate and approved norms of professional conduct in a context free from harassment and any kind of discrimination. In this way, we affirm our commitment to the Max Planck Society’s Code of Conduct, which highlights the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a working culture.

This also enables us to foster an atmosphere conducive to collegial and open exchanges of diverse scholarly viewpoints and information. The mpilhlt provides support and ensures that concerns are heard in a safe and confidential setting. Please feel free to contact the Directors, Head of Administration, Research Coordinator or our DEI Officer if you wish to share your recommendations or concerns regarding our diverse and inclusive work/research environment.

Bottom-up Discussions: Diversity Group and Conviviality Group

The Diversity Group began its meetings in 2019 and has been meeting regularly since. We organize Diversity Lunches, open to all institute members and guests, to create informal platforms for communication. The group also functions as a think tank on diversity, seeking new ideas to create a more inclusive workplace atmosphere. At the end of 2023, some institute members started holding regular meetings to discuss various topics together: Politics, crises and conflicts can be polarizing, but we aim to prevent this from affecting our internal communication. The initial focus of the Conviviality Group is our internal communication within the institute, with the goal of establishing effective channels for better mutual understanding.