SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Find the most recent Gazette stories for this goal here.

Teaching and Learning:

• The Joint Gender Equity Salary Adjustment Committee was founded in 2019 and was funded $1 million to evaluate pay inequity at MUN, and released a report in 2021. The committee has developed an annual database to analyze factors that affect inequity among women staff and other groups deserving of equity as part of their work.
• The Karl M. Wells Scholarship, valued at $2000, is a LGBTQ2S+ scholarship that was first awarded in 2021. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a full-time student in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences who is pursuing academic work in LGBTQ2S+ studies or who is actively involved in the community.
• Memorial University developed the Trans & Gender Diverse Students' Guide to allow trans and gender diverse youth access, information, and resources. The guide provides links to services and supports outside of Memorial that are relevant for trans and gender diverse students and helps provide information for those who are looking to support trans and gender diverse youth.

Research: 

• Dr. Sonja Boon, a gender studies professor at MUN, was the 2020 recipient of the Ursula Franklin Award in Gender Studies. She was presented the award to recognize her outstanding contributions to furthering the understanding of issues concerning gender through her research in the areas of feminist theory, life writing, autoethnography and women’s history.
• Nursing professor Dr. Kimberly Jarvis travelled to Ghana in 2020 to work on two projects funded by the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship as well as Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) focused on women’s reproductive health and the eradication of a condition called obstetric fistula.
• In 2017, Dr. Kara Arnold from MUN’s business faculty won an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study the impact of sexual orientation on hiring and promotion in jobs that are seen as traditionally male or female. She hoped to make organizations more aware of how bias arising from the lack of fit with gender stereotypes affects hiring practices.
• In 2020, seven researchers from Memorial received more than $385,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to examine sexual harassment and its relationship with other diversity factors. The end-goal of this research is to build a diversity index that will span beyond the typical definition of gender diversity.
  
• In 2020, Grenfell Campus student Blair Curtis helped develop the Gender Fluidity Care Guide, which is a manual that will help educate health-care professionals on gender diverse issues. The guide aims to allow health-care professionals learn more about the gender fluid community, resultantly giving gender diverse people more ease of mind.

Public Engagement:

• G.I.R.L. (Girls Into Running for Life) Run Club is a club sponsored by the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation that inspires junior high girls to explore running in a body positive environment. In 2016, the club participated in the local Terry Fox run.
• For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Memorial hosted an all-student celebration of Memorial University’s women-identifying scientists. This day highlighted female students from Belize, Canada and India from the faculties of Engineering and Applied Science, Medicine and Science and the School of Pharmacy; and from the bachelor to the doctoral level.
• The Women's Association of Memorial University (WAMUN) is an on-campus association welcoming women of all backgrounds to take part in activities and discussions. The WAMUN community service is funding scholarships for Memorial students and supports for the campus food bank.
• Memorial University celebrates Pride annually and in 2021, Dr. Vianne Timmons helped raise the Inclusive/Progressive Pride flag on the St. John’s campus, together with Memorial’s leadership. Dr. Timmons states that is the responsibility of the entirety of Memorial University to ensure the community is supportive, inclusive. and respectful of all people of all races, colours, religions and sexual orientations.

Administration:

• In honour of Internation Women's Day 2021, a Memorial University tradeswoman was featured in a new video series profiling women working in the trades. Danielle Browne, who was featured in the video, is a Red Seal certified plumber for the Department of Facilities Management who takes pride in innovative practices, tools, time-saving techniques and safe working practices.
  
• Memorial University has an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Employment policy to provide an overview of the University’s commitment to diversity and equity in employment. The goals outlined include recognizing, preventing and eliminating disadvantage or discrimination; and creating and maintaining a culture that supports an inclusive and welcoming workplace
• The Faculty of Medicine has made a commitment to an environment free of intimidation, discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment. They stand against any form of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, intimidation, or harassment of any description while valuing every individual regardless of race, color, gender, religion, or ethnicity.