In mid-January, the Equal Opportunities Initiative of the German Society for Geotechnical Engineering began its work. One of the founders is Julia Sorgatz, who holds a doctorate in engineering geology from TU Bergakademie Freiberg: "We have set ourselves the goal of making gender equality and diversity issues visible in everyday geotechnical work, promoting professional exchange and providing impetus for structural improvements."
At their first meeting, the founders of the initiative shared experiences from their day-to-day work and collected topics that they want to continue working on in the future. "One focus was on the compatibility of career and family, because the structural framework conditions such as flexible working hours, reliable substitution arrangements, easily plannable deadlines and transparent development paths sometimes differ significantly in the different professional fields and working conditions of female geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists."
The initiative is now planning further meetings and formats to expand the network and continue the work on an ongoing basis. Interested parties are invited to network and stay informed via chancengerechtigkeit-dggt [at] googlegroups [dot] com (this mailing list).
