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Gender equality at universities

bukof annual conference took place for the 30th time

Ein Logo der bukof mit dem Schriftzug "Wir sind auf 180" © bukof
The motto of the 30th annual bukof conference

The Federal Conference of Women and Equal Opportunities Officers at Universities (bukof) met from September 11 to 14 at the Sparkassenakademie in Landshut (Bavaria). The annual conference on the topic "CHANCEN. JUST. CHANGE - Social and cultural transformations in universities" marked the thirtieth anniversary of the alliance, which first met in 1989 - back then at the University of Dortmund.

bukof was founded after this first meeting in Dortmund with the aim of networking women's representatives at universities nationwide in order to strengthen their position and to promote and professionalize gender equality work in the academic context. Today, bukof sees itself as "the gender policy voice in the science and higher education policy discourse." Organized as a non-profit association, it is the association of all actors whose main task is to help shape the structure and culture of universities in Germany in a gender-equitable way.

Anniversary to the power of three: "We are on 180"

At this year's annual conference, bukof not only celebrated its own 30th anniversary. Two other relevant anniversaries were added under the motto "We are180": Firstly, German women were granted the right to vote 100 years ago and Adele Hartmann became the first woman to be habilitated in Germany in 1918. Secondly, 50 years ago to the day, on September 13, 1968, the student Sigrid Rüger heralded the second wave of the (West) German women's movement with her tomato throw at the delegates' conference of the Socialist German Student Association.

Without losing sight of the achievements of the past, the members of bukof looked to the future at the annual conference in Landshut. Various workshops and presentations were dedicated to the topic of change management. The discussions and inputs focused on the questions of how a cultural change towards more gender equality can be sustainably anchored in organizations such as universities and how gender equality policy actors can most effectively counter resistance.