{"id":17579,"date":"2025-11-20T14:02:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/?p=17579"},"modified":"2025-11-21T08:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T07:03:17","slug":"women-and-gender-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and gender equality at WU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under the title \u201cWomen creating knowledge \u2013 35 Years of women\u2019s work at WU Vienna,\u201d on Nov. 18, 2025, the editors of the newly published volume –<\/em> Regine Bendl, Charlotte Khan, and Angelika Schmidt – invited guests to reflect on 35 years of initiatives advancing women and gender equality at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking back at pioneers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Professor Regine Bendl opened the event by honoring the women who paved the way at WU \u2013 from the first female academic staff member to the first female library director, the first female rector, and the first woman to be named scientist of the year<\/em>. She reminded the audience that gender equality efforts have always been driven by principles of justice, participation, and recognition. \u201eThe question is: How can we create conditions that allow women to realize their potential?\u201c<\/p>\n

Vice-Rector Martin Winner followed with historical milestones. In 1917, the first woman graduated from WU; in 1932, the first female doctoral degree was awarded; and in 1977, the first habilitation by a woman was completed. Winner noted that in 1989 \u2013 just a year after he began his own studies \u2013 the first female professor, Renate Rathmayr, was appointed at WU. Today, women hold about 34% of professorships. Still, Winner emphasized that equal opportunity is about more than numbers: it requires an inclusive organizational culture where diversity is visible and valued.<\/p>\n

Progress cannot be taken for granted<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the following discussion, moderated by Christine Mattl, the panel explored WU\u2019s progress in greater detail. Angelika Schmid, Professor of Change Management and Management Development, highlighted the influence of early feminist initiatives in the 1990s, which helped lay the groundwork for the later institutionalization of gender equality structures. Today, gender equality and equal opportunities<\/a> are firmly embedded at the university.<\/p>\n

All panelists agreed that these achievements should not be taken for granted. Challenges persist for early-career researchers, including fixed-term contracts. Supporting young female scholars, e.g. by giving them space to organize and question structural constraints, remains essential. Charlotte Khan, chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee<\/a>, commented:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about women\u2019s work within a patriarchal university.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She pointed to a symbolic example: Among the 27 portraits in the LC\u2019s gallery of rectors, only one depicts a woman.<\/p>\n

Reality check: women in academia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The second panel began with reflections from Renate Rathmayr, who spoke about navigating gender hierarchies in academia: \u201cIt\u2019s not just professional competence that matters.\u201d She recalled being greeted with \u201cGood morning, Mr. colleague\u201d when she arrived as WU\u2019s first female professor.<\/p>\n

\"Renate

Renate Rathmayr, first professor at WU Vienna<\/p><\/div>\n

Young researchers continue to face difficult conditions. Jelena Cerar, assistant professor at WU, described the need to prove herself before being taken seriously, and addressed a question familiar to many women in her generation: \u201cHow can academia and motherhood be combined?\u201d Despite these obstacles, she also emphasized the agency of female scholars: \u201cWe as female researchers at WU are not here only to fit into the system, but also to shape it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In closing, Rector Rupert Sausgruber commented on WU\u2019s progress toward gender parity:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still far from our goal, but we have made great progress.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The university\u2019s mission is clear: to generate relevant and reliable knowledge \u2013 something that cannot be achieved when half the population is underrepresented. Professor Tina Wakolbinger concluded: \u201cThere are many opportunities for women in academia, but the path is not an easy one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the title \u201cWomen creating knowledge \u2013 35 Years of women\u2019s work at WU Vienna,\u201d on Nov. 18, 2025, the editors of the newly published volume – Regine Bendl, Charlotte Khan, and Angelika Schmidt – invited guests to reflect on 35 years of initiatives advancing women and gender equality at WU Vienna University of Economics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1007,"featured_media":17596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-researching"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWomen and gender equality at WU - WU Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women and gender equality at WU - WU Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Under the title \u201cWomen creating knowledge \u2013 35 Years of women\u2019s work at WU Vienna,\u201d on Nov. 18, 2025, the editors of the newly published volume – Regine Bendl, Charlotte Khan, and Angelika Schmidt – invited guests to reflect on 35 years of initiatives advancing women and gender equality at WU Vienna University of Economics […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WU Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia Kreimel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julia Kreimel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Julia Kreimel\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163\"},\"headline\":\"Women and gender equality at WU\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/PB180250-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Researching\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/\",\"name\":\"Women and gender equality at WU - WU Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/PB180250-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/PB180250-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/PB180250-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"\u00a9 Martin Purtscher\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/women-and-gender-equality\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women and gender equality at WU\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/\",\"name\":\"WU Blog\",\"description\":\"Herzlich willkommen auf dem WU-Blog! Hier findet ihr eine Reihe an Blogbeitr\u00e4gen von Studierenden, ForscherInnen, Lehrenden, Alumni und MitarbeiterInnen - mach mit!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163\",\"name\":\"Julia Kreimel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julia Kreimel\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.wu.ac.at\\\/en\\\/author\\\/julia-kreimel\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women and gender equality at WU - WU Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women and gender equality at WU - WU Blog","og_description":"Under the title \u201cWomen creating knowledge \u2013 35 Years of women\u2019s work at WU Vienna,\u201d on Nov. 18, 2025, the editors of the newly published volume – Regine Bendl, Charlotte Khan, and Angelika Schmidt – invited guests to reflect on 35 years of initiatives advancing women and gender equality at WU Vienna University of Economics […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/","og_site_name":"WU Blog","article_published_time":"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Julia Kreimel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julia Kreimel","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/"},"author":{"name":"Julia Kreimel","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/#\/schema\/person\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163"},"headline":"Women and gender equality at WU","datePublished":"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/"},"wordCount":573,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Researching"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/","name":"Women and gender equality at WU - WU Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-20T13:02:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-21T07:03:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/#\/schema\/person\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PB180250-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920,"caption":"\u00a9 Martin Purtscher"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/2025\/11\/women-and-gender-equality\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women and gender equality at WU"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/","name":"WU Blog","description":"Herzlich willkommen auf dem WU-Blog! Hier findet ihr eine Reihe an Blogbeitr\u00e4gen von Studierenden, ForscherInnen, Lehrenden, Alumni und MitarbeiterInnen - mach mit!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/#\/schema\/person\/245d343865ce9c5ed770760a4b97e163","name":"Julia Kreimel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5af0a1aa28bb13985e02c6e3d7b6e1ff899ea56edd2878f28ec6106e93928f73?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Julia Kreimel"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/author\/julia-kreimel\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 12:22:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17579"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17610,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579\/revisions\/17610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wu.ac.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}