At University of Wuppertal, with the introduction of the office of the Decentralised Equal Opportunity Officer, a regulation as uniform as possible for all faculties was preferred. Based on this, there is an Equal Opportunity Officer for appointment matters and a Deputy Equal Opportunity Officer who can be contacted for any equal opportunities issues at each faculty. If possible, the Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officer should come from the group of female university teachers or academic staff (recommendation of the Central Equal Opportunity Officer).

Irrespective of this recommendation, the allocation of status group-related positions has been regulated differently in the faculties, so that the following list a) and b) is ideally still oriented towards the recommendation, but the range of tasks generally remains the same:

a) Professor for appointment matters
(incl. target quotas for new appointments)

• Monitoring appointment procedures (directly or indirectly)
• Issuing statements for appointment committees and the Faculty Council
• Possibility of submitting a special vote
• Controlling the awarding of substitute professorships to women (target quota 50 %)

b) Contact for equal opportunities issues

• Preparation of statements on the decentralised equality plans, controlling their implementation and participating in their updating
• Advising on faculty-related target agreements and target discussions
• Participation in the profiling of the faculty
• Participation in achieving gender parity in the composition of the committees
• Advising employees and students (on compatibility, sexual harassment, upgrading/promotions, promotion of young female academics, etc.)

Tasks according to the Higher Education Act (Hochschulzukunftsgesetz, HZG)

According to the HZG, the Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officer is the legal deputy of the Central Equal Opportunities Officer. The Central Equal Opportunities Officer delegates general or individual case-related competences, tasks and duties in the legally defined areas of responsibility to the Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officers as their deputies, exercising their professional freedom to issue instructions in accordance with § 17 North Rhine-Westphalia State Equality Act (Landesgleichstellungsgesetz, LGG NRW):

• Participation in committees
• Staffing procedures
• structural plan and allocation of resources
• advising on the updating of the faculty's equal opportunities plan
• General counselling in the context of equal opportunities
• Contact for the Central Equal Opportunities Officer.

The decentralised Equal Opportunities Officer is not subject to directives when representing the Central Equal Opportunities Officer.

Working principles and law

• General Equal Treatment Act / Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG)
• Higher Education Act / Hochschulzukunftsgesetz (HZG § 24, § 11c, § 37a)
• State Equal Opportunities Act / Landesgleichstellungsgesetz (LGG)
• Research-oriented equality standards of the DFG
• University of Wuppertal Development Plan (field of action: equality)
• Target and performance agreements of the State of NRW
• Mission statement of the university
• Basic Regulations / Grundordnung (§ 2 Tasks)
• Gender concept and gender guideline
• Framework plan for gender equality at BUW
• Equality Plan of the Faculty

According to the Higher Education Act (HZG NRW) of 16 September 2014, faculties appoint Equal Opportunity Officers and their deputies. The Decentralised Equal Opportunity Officers work towards the inclusion of aspects relevant to equal opportunities in the fulfilment of the faculty's tasks. They can participate in meetings of the faculty councils, the appointment committees and other committees of the faculty as deputies of the Central Equal Opportunity Officers with the right to speak and propose motions. They are informed about all relevant matters and invited to all committees. Their term of office is two years.

In addition, the Decentralised Equal Opportunity Officers are the contact point for equal opportunities issues in their organisational units. They are involved in an advisory capacity in the updating of the equality plans and contribute to the faculty-appropriate profiling.

The Decentralised Equal Opportunity Officers support the Central Equal Opportunity Officer at faculty level and thus help to shape the university's own equality goals.

Within the framework of academic self-administration, the Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officer has the right,

• to participate in the meetings of the committees, to which she is to be invited and informed like a member
• to request all relevant documents
• to cast special votes in all instances of the appointment procedure
• to raise awareness of gender equality issues
• to influence the distribution of faculty funds through skilful argumentation
• to participate in the profile building development of the faculty or subjects.

Acting Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officers