Diversity, Equality, Family
Freie Universität Berlin is committed to promoting gender equity and equal opportunities at all levels, and to fighting discrimination wherever this occurs.
This commitment means acknowledging and appreciating the many differences and commonalities between groups of people at our university, as well as dismantling the barriers that prevent university members from receiving equal treatment and getting the most out of life at Freie Universität Berlin, whether they study, research, or work here. In line with our founding principles, core values, and sense of community, Freie Universität Berlin is dedicated to honoring and promoting diversity. At the same time, it strives to identify exclusionary mechanisms, critically reflect on them, and ultimately dismantle them.
This critical approach to questions of equity and equality involves thinking about how gender intersects with other discriminatory categories. This perspective also requires us to consider gender as a multifaceted concept that surpasses the binary model and to resist modes of essentializing gender and gender roles.
Further, Freie Universität Berlin is committed to enabling its students and staff to balance university life with family responsibilities. We have put a range of measures in place to support our members in balancing study, work, and family life and are a certified “family friendly” university.
Diversity
Freie Universität has a long history of successfully promoting diversity and dismantling inequalities. This dedication has resulted in several awards, for example, the Total E-Quality award for diversity (2017, 2021), and regular certification as a “family-friendly” university since 2007.
Freie Universität Berlin published its Diversity Mission Statement in 2013 – an important cornerstone of its diversity work. This mission statement was used as a foundation upon which to develop the university’s comprehensive Diversity Strategy and Action Plan. This plan outlines Freie Universität’s general approach to diversity and defines specific goals and measures for the future. It was externally evaluated and certified in 2023 by Stifterverband as part of the “Shaping Diversity” audit. Originally set out for the period 2021‒2023, the Executive Board recently voted to extend the Diversity Strategy and Action Plan to 2026.
An important additional step toward creating structures for governing diversity at the university was completed in 2024 when Freie Universität ratified and published its Antidiscrimination Policy. This policy is aimed at preventing discrimination, sexualized harassment, violence, bullying, and stalking of any kind at the university and provides a framework for effectively countering these forms of discrimination and ensuring equitable access to university life for all its members. It also provides the basis for important working structures in the area of diversity and antidiscrimination.
A system for conflict and complaints management is currently being set up as part of the work carried out by the Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office. In doing so, the Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office shall provide support and complaints services at its own discretion in accordance with Section 5b.3 of the Berlin Higher Education Act (Berliner Hochschulgesetz, BerlHG).
The Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office also offers confidential advice and support services for university members affected by discrimination.
Equal Opportunities
Freie Universität Berlin has a proud history of promoting gender equity:
- It has held a Total-E-Quality rating since 2002.
- Since 2005, Freie Universität Berlin has been one of the top universities in the nation-wide ranking conducted by the Center of Excellence Women and Science (CEWS) based on various aspects of gender equity and their implementation.
- Since 2007, Freie Universität has been a certified “family friendly” university.
- In 2018, Freie Universität co-founded the association “Familie in der Hochschule e. V.” (Family at the University).
- In 2018, Freie Universität was given the “Outstanding Equal Opportunity!” distinction – one of only ten German universities awarded the honor – as part of the German federal and state governments’ female professors program. This achievement is a result of the university’s strong professional development and recruiting processes that support female academics on their way to becoming professors.
Freie Universität Berlin’s new Gender Equity Strategy and Action Plan was approved by the Academic Senate in February 2021. It includes preexisting regulations and self-imposed policies, establishes goals and benchmarks to be achieved by 2026, and identifies some preliminary measures as examples of actions that apply to specific areas of the university.
Freie Universität has introduced gender policy monitoring as part of its aim to define goals, develop measures, and monitor the implementation of policies promoting equal opportunities, as well as to professionalize administrative support.
The Chief Gender Equality Officer of Freie Universität Berlin and her team support the Executive Board and central committees of Freie Universität Berlin in implementing legislative requirements related to gender equity.
Family
Freie Universität Berlin considers “family” to be any constellation where members take on long-term social responsibility – regardless of the specific make-up of this constellation.
The Dual Career & Family Service provides advice and supports university members in balancing work, studies, and family life. University members and students can contact this service with regard to any care responsibilities they may have – this includes not only children but also other dependents.
The studierendenWERK BERLIN daycare center for members of Freie Universität Berlin is located next to our campus in Dahlem. It offers places for 180 young children. The daycare spots are open to children of university members from the various universities and colleges around Berlin, with priority given to the families of students and employees at Freie Universität Berlin.
The Dual Career Service is a cornerstone of Freie Universität Berlin’s work to promote equal opportunities. Here, we support the life partners of newly appointed professors in finding a job in Berlin. The Dual Career Service provides a wide range of support options tailored to the needs and requirements of specific individuals. It offers comprehensive support services for partners looking for career possibilities in Berlin, as well as childcare options.
More information
- Support for Students with Disabilities at Freie Universität Berlin
- Girls’ Day: Encouraging Female Participation in STEM subjects
- Interdisciplinary Forum Gender and Diversity Studies
- Margherita von Brentano Center for Gender Studies
- Margherita von Brentano Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Gender Studies or Equality
- NO Means NO: For Personal Autonomy and Respectful Relationships