The monitoring of EU Framework Programmes’ implementation is an essential component of the overall evaluation and monitoring system. It supports the management of the programmes, provides transparency on programme activities and contributes towards the base of information which is used for major evaluations of the Framework Programmes. Over the years there has been progressive updating of the way in which monitoring is carried out. Up until the start of the Seventh Framework programme (FP7) there was an annual monitoring exercise involving a panel, or panels, of external experts which would examine some of the key issues relating to programme implementation.
The 2012 Monitoring Report talks about the European Commission’s stated goal of having at least a 40% representation of women in Marie Curie fellowships, Advisory Groups, Assessment Panels and Monitoring Panels of FP5. This target was subsequently expanded to include all groups, panels, committees and projects involved in the Framework Programmes. The 40% target remained in place for FP6 and is also valid for FP7.
From the report:
“The CORDA database contains data on individuals with assigned contact person roles for each of the organisations participating in FP7 funded projects, for which grant agreements have already been signed. This data includes gender identity. In the thematic area Information and Communication Technologies data of this type is recorded in the CORDA database only for the ‘Contact Person’ role.
At the moment of data extraction (February 2013) the database contained an estimated total of 310.356 individuals from EU27 participant organisations with assigned contact person roles, whose gender identity has been registered in the database, of which 81.639, or 26,3%, were women. Of all individuals with assigned contact person roles in coordinator organisations, 30,2% (20.966) are women; in participant (non-coordinating) organisations the corresponding share of women is 25,2% (60.673).
Gender of individual participants with contact person roles in signed grant agreements
from FP7 calls concluded during the period 2007-2012.
A fifth (20,1%) of all individuals characterised as contact person for scientific aspects in signed grant agreements are women. Women represent more than a third (35,4%) of individuals in the category fellow, which corresponds to the specific programme People (Marie Curie Actions).
7.494 women (24% of total contact persons) were recorded as contact persons in the signed project grant agreements for ICT theme (Cooperation programme) by 31 December 2012. Slightly above one tenth (12,1%) of all individuals characterised as contact person for technical aspects in signed grant agreements are women.
As for the e-infrastructures activity, 745 women (or 26,4% of total contact persons) were recorded as contact persons in the signed project grant agreements. Approximately 15% of all individuals characterised as contact person for technical aspects in signed grant agreements are women.
Regarding the participation share of women in contact person roles in FP7 signed grant agreements from 2007 to 2012 by thematic area. It is interesting to observe the considerable variation of female participation shares as the contact person for scientific aspects role among different thematic areas. The highest female participation was recorded in Science in Society, Regions of Knowledge, Socio-economic sciences and Humanities and activities in International Cooperation areas with more than a third of the total. “
