Weaving International Networks. With the Golden Thread of the Office for Gender Equality at UNAM

In March 2020, the Office for Gender Equality (CIGU) at UNAM was created by a rector’s agreement. The University has taken a significant step towards creating an office responsible for coordinating the efforts of all its entities and dependencies. This Office can design, implement, and operate institutional policies related to gender equality and prevent violence in their influence areas. Among the strategic actions of CIGU is that of generating ties and networks with equivalent instances in universities around the country and the world for mutual enrichment, knowledge of diverse experiences, exchange of information, and the establishment of good practices in gender equality. Moreover, it aids in developing knowledge, education, and awareness, and extends the advantages of a culture of equity to the entire population.

Collaborating with UNAM’s International Head Office (CRAI), through joint work with the Centers for Mexican Studies in Spain, France, and Germany, CIGU has promoted the construction of spaces beyond our borders to which we have taken the record, the way of doing, and the actions in the field of equality that our university has developed, with which we have obtained recognition from the countries above. The constant global changes and transformations aimed at gender equality are evidence of a significant plurality of contexts and needs. UNAM recognizes the significance of international cooperation and collaboration in achieving equality. The involvement of all sectors of society is necessary to attain this objective, as it benefits everyone. Therefore, UNAM emphasizes the importance of working together towards this goal.

The work carried out by the CIGU to link and articulate actions with various international entities can be seen in the elements that show how gender perspective is being incorporated in every action of UNAM’s three main tasks: teaching, creating knowledge, and disseminating culture. It has been a long road but yielded outstanding results.

Gender studies, for example, have led to the creation of specialized research centers. University mechanisms for disseminating culture give excellent visibility to academic publications and events on gender equality. Incorporating this perspective in artistic and cultural practices has also been promoted. Meanwhile, teaching has sought to strengthen sensitivity to inequalities. These three axes guide the work of UNAM and are framed by institutional regulations and policies in which gender perspective has also been formally involved. All of this is based on the commitment to transform the ways of acting and being at UNAM.

In this context, CIGU seeks to build bridges within and outside the university to build equality. The office works inside on the understanding that dialogue is essential to solving problems. Hence, by engaging in dialogue, a strategy is developed to reach out to diverse communities and build from there, with each party taking equal responsibility for their actions.

UNAM is committed to transforming reality but is aware that this task requires the work and collaboration of multiple institutions. Thus, CIGU, from its articulating role, has linked up with various public and private, national and international organizations to achieve substantive equality in all areas.

UNAM generates knowledge that helps us understand our realities, and dialogues with knowledge built in other latitudes and has repercussions in scenarios beyond UNAM. Mexico has significantly contributed to fields such as feminisms, gender studies, masculinities, and sexual diversities. These contributions have placed our country at the forefront of international discussions, collaborations, and knowledge creation. In these issues, UNAM has had excellent references such as Rosario Castellanos, Graciela Hierro, and Alaíde Foppa, who have crafted essential paradigms for Latin American feminisms, which currently have positioned themselves as a place of reflection outside the West.

Middle-high education institutions in our country must generate data reflecting our realities to incorporate gender perspectives in their practices and regulations. This process of knowledge generation is essential. In this regard, CIGU has coordinated the work of the Technical Commission of the National Observatory for Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions (ONIGIES), an open-access repository that monitors the institutionalization and mainstreaming of gender equality policies in various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The monitoring is carried out through the following seven axes: lawmaking, co-responsibility, statistics, inclusive language, sensitization, gender studies, and non-violence. From these, an equality index is constructed, and the progress of each participating HEI is measured. In the case of UNAM, it can be observed, for example, that between 2017 and 2020, it went from a rating of 2.4 to 3.3 (out of 5 possible points), with 100 percent coverage in institutionalization and 33.9 percent in gender perspective mainstreaming.

The international priority given to gender equality is evident. UNESCO states that it is of worldwide relevance. The 2030 Global Agenda states in its Goal 4, “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” And Goal 5 aims to “Achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” Thus, this global agenda recognizes that gender equality requires an approach that “ensures that girls and boys, women and men not only gain access to and complete education cycles but are empowered equally in and through education.” This means that education is positioned as one of the most important ways to reduce the gaps that mark inequalities. UNAM, following these international objectives, actively participates in their pursuit.

A highly relevant step to position and act against the violence that women currently experience was taken by the Public Macro-Universities Network in Latin America and the Caribbean, headed by UNAM (see page 212 in this issue): the Zero Tolerance to Gender Violence in Universities Statement. By taking this step, we were able to bring to light the contexts of violence and inequality present in different educational settings throughout Latin America. It also allowed us to unite and collectively commit to bringing about change within university communities.

In addition, in 2023 CIGU participated in an international colloquium called “Gender approach in financial laws: Crossed points of view,” thanks to the academic connections between UNAM and institutions like the Mohamed V University of Rabat in Morocco. This event provided a platform for discussing topics ranging from intersectionality to perspectives on the impact of creating government policies with a gender perspective.

On the other hand, CIGU has joined the ACT and Inspire programs of UNESCO’s Regional Chair on Woman, Science and Technology in Latin America, co-organized by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). This space made it possible to exchange the experiences of various universities and research centers on their paths toward equality and thus support the creation of policies that promote this course. UNAM’s participation in these forums fosters the dissemination of our work for gender equality, favoring dialogue with other institutions and positioning the work done in recent years in terms of institutional gender policy.

Alliances with the United Nations have resulted in collaboration in carrying out projects with UN Women, such as the He for She Campaign, academic participation, commemoration of dates such as February 11, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and March 8, International Women’s Day, as well as developing in 2016 of the first Protocol for attention to gender violence, among others.

UNAM is today an international reference in knowledge production, as well as an international reference in the construction of university policies and the discussion on how institutions build equality policies. Proof of this is that, in 2023, CIGU was invited by Yale University to provide feedback on some projects related to the generation of public policies for equality.

As part of the path toward substantive equality, we must listen and learn from new acting methods. Only in this way can we build pathways of collaboration and dialogue with active academies. These institutions are increasingly close to their communities and societies, which know their realities. This is why we must strengthen the links built so far and continue to form networks that enable the collaboration and alliances necessary to transform our societies. Thus, from higher education institutions, we must daily educate from and for equality.

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