Gender equality

The Gender Equality Officers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research are the contact persons for all questions regarding gender equality and gender sensibility. They are ideally involved in all personnel, organizational and social measures which affect the equal opportunities of women and men, the compatibility of work and family and the protection against sexual harassment at the workplace.

The work of the local Gender Equality Officer is based on the Principles of Equal Opportunities for Women and Men at the Max Planck Society, signed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Max Planck Society in 2008. This document as well as others related to the legal basis of gender equality work can be accessed through the Intranet.

The Gender Equality Officer and her deputy are elected by the female employees in a secret ballot and then appointed by the management of the facility. The period of office is four years. The current gender equality officers were appointed in December 2020.

To further promote equal opportunity measures in general and gender equality measures in particular, a regularly convening Gender Equality Committee (GECO) has been formed and has taken up its work on the 8th March 2018. Currently, the committee is composed of the Gender Equality Officer and one representative of each the following groups: (1) group leaders, (2) postdocs, (3) PhDs, (4) technical staff, (5) administration. The Managing Director and Deputy Gender Equality Officer are permanent guests of the GECO. The Gender Equality Committee represents an important structural measure to firmly implement Gender Equality work at our Institute.