Equality of Opportunity in Education and Training - Programmes under Federal Ministry for Education and Research

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

The Federal Ministry for Education and Research has conducted several initiatives to mainstream gender into its functions in education and vocational training, such as:

• the promotion of women in training, sciences and research;
• measures to provide women's opportunities in the sciences, research and technologies;
• an international woman's technical and cultural university;
• projects to promote women in the information society and the improvement of training and occupational opportunities in IT and the Women on the Net project; and,
• the establishment of competence centres, networks and databases.

Total E-Quality Programme

The Total E-Quality award, developed  with the assistance of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research  and the European Union, was granted to 17 companies for the first time in January 1997. The commendation honours the human resources and management strategies of companies that promote equality opportunities and that pay note to the special needs of women at all levels of the company.

Women Provide New Impetus in Technology Initiative

The Programme was launched by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research sponsored, the Federal Institutes for Employment and Deutsch Telekom AG in 1994. The Federal Government set as its objective the expansion of the range of career opportunities available to women in order to overcome the occupational segregation of the labour market. The initiative creates a network for all activities aimed at expanding the range of occupations of women in technology and information technology. Activities include:

1. the establishment of a "Women and Information Society and Technology" competence centre which will disseminate information, and provide counselling and networking activities;
2. an engineering dialogue between the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, engineering associations, industry and commerce, institutions of higher education and other institutions to increase the proportion of women in engineering courses and professions; and,
3. the "Women on the web" (Frauen ans netz) campaign.