Now NUIG is accused of being ‘sexist’ against men!

A male member of the Governing Body made the charge at a recent meeting, when he outlined that men were excluded from an equality programme being rolled-out by the office of Vice President of Equality and Diversity at NUIG.

The man, according to Governing Body meeting minutes released to the Galway City Tribune under Freedom of Information, “queried why the university was not encouraging all colleagues to participate in equality programmes.”

The minutes added: “The member made reference to the Women’s Leadership Programme and questioned why a general leadership programme was not available to both genders given that the quotas will be applied in any case for promotion competitions. He stated his view that the provision of this Women’s Leadership Programme was sexist”.

The Vice President Professor Anne Scott told the meeting that NUIG “were looking into developing a general leadership programme for both male and female employees”.

But she said “specific issues have been identified with women and leadership and that therefore the Women’s Leadership Programme should not be seen as sexist but rather as a balanced intervention to assist women.”

She added: “The provision of a women’s leadership programme is also one of the recommendations of the report of the gender taskforce, unanimously adopted by Údarás na hOllscoile (Governing Body) in May 2016.”

The meeting heard how NUIG was “currently working on creating a general leadership development across the board”.

The issue was discussed during an update on the progress made by the office of Vice President of Equality and Diversity.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.