About us

ETH Diversity's mission is derived from strategic objectives regarding the guarantee of excellence at ETH Zurich, as well as legal requirements.  

Federal Act on Gender Equality

The Federal Act from March 24th, 1995 on Gender Equality (Gender Equality Act, external page GEA) aims to promote actual gender equality.

Extracted from the Strategy and Development Plan 2021-2024 at ETH Zurich

We are a socially responsible employer that creates attractive conditions for our employees. We support our staff in all job functions and at every level of responsibility. During the 2021–2024 period, we will place special emphasis on developing our management’s leadership skills, increasing diversity and promoting equal opportunity. (Strategy and Development Plan 2021-2024)

Extracted from the Personnel Ordinance of the Federal Institutes of Technology

external page Art. 9 Protection of Personal Rights

1. The two Federal Institutes of Technology and the Research Institutes provide an atmosphere characterized by personal respect and trust, excluding any kind of discrimination.
2. They prevent, by means of adequate measures, any inadmissible interventions in the personal rights of their individual employees, regardless of who originates them, particularly:
a. the systematic collection of data regarding the individual performance of any employees without their knowledge;
b. the perpetration or tolerance of assaults on or actions against the personal or professional dignity of any employees.
3. The two Federal Institutes of Technology and the Research Institutes determine an office responsible for providing counseling services and support to employees who feel disadvantaged or discriminated. This office does not need to adhere to any regulations in the fulfillment of its mission.

external page Art. 10 Equality of Women and Men

1. The two Federal Institutes of Technology and the Research Institutes take specific measures in order achieve equality of opportunity and equality of women and men.
2. They protect the dignity of women and man in the workplace and take measures for the enforcement of the prohibition of discrimination.

Extracted from the Gender Action Plan of ETH Zurich

ETH is characterized by low propotions of women on all levels of the academic career, like all leading universities in technology and sciences. Around 30 percent of students and doctoral students are women. On the level of post-doctoral researchers and senior scientist, the proportion amounts to around 25 percent; on the level of professors around 9 percent. All these numbers are below ETH Zurich's objectives. 

Higher proportions of women are to be achieved on all levels because mixed teams with a higher number of women play an important role regarding innovative results in high-end research (see for example the study "Gendered Innovations" from the European Commission, 2013). With more women in research, a larger extent of interdisciplinary research could be achieved as well as a stronger focus on needs of individual groups in society. ETH Zurich regards itself as a university that makes essential contributions to fundamental research on and solutions to global issues such as nutrition, energy and health, etc. A stronger involvement of women on all academic levels seems advisable in this context. Furthermore, ETH aims to facilitate reconciliation of studies or occuption with private and family matters for all students and employees.

Read more about the Gender Action Plan 

• Equal Opportunities Working Group of the ETH Domain - The association of delegates for equal opportunities from ETHZ, EPFL, PSI, WSL, EMPA and EAWAG. Its goal is to firmly embed equal opportunities in all ETH areas. The working group introduced the career support program "external page Fix-the-Leaky-Pipeline" for female scientist from the ETH Domain and is continuously improving it.

• external page Swiss Universities – is committed to extending and further developing the cooperation among Swiss universities and supports a unified voice of the Swiss higher education area. 

• external page IDEAS – Inclusion, Diversity and Equality Association of Swiss Universities. IDEAS is the association of the equal-opportunities delegates of the ten Swiss Universities and the two national technical universities, based in Bern.

• Gender and Science Policy Working Group – This Switzerland-wide working group coordinates and develops projects for the promotion of equal opportunities and gender studies. It is represented by the members of IDEAS, the Rector’s Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the State Secretariat for Education and Research, Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology, the Federal and Cantonal Offices for Gender Equality, the Gender Studies Centers and the ETH Domain.

• external page IARU – International Association of Research Universities. ETH is member of IARU next to nine other prestigious international universities. Within IARU, a working group is occupied with questions regarding gender. The group meets every or every other year to compare the situation of women among the different universities, identify "best practice" measures and learn from each other. 

• external page IDEA League – The Equality and Diversity working group coordinates joint projects for the promotion of equal opportunities at the IDEA League institutions (RWTH Aachen University, TU Delft, Chalmers and ETH Zurich).

• external page ENHANCE – ENHANCE is an alliance of ten European technical universities with a strong focus on innovation and research. ETH Zurich's participation in the ENHANCE+ project is supported by Movetia. 

• external page LERU – The League of European Research Universities is committed to promoting basic research at European universities. ETH Diversity is part of the Policy Group Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), which advances policy and practice on equality, diversity and inclusion for the benefit of all LERU member institutions, monitors equality processes, outlines mechanisms for structural change and advises national and EU institutions.

• In June 1991, the ETH point of contact for women was created. Over the years, it's name changed several times: 1993 Office of Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, since 2008, it has been offering its services under the name of Equal! – Office of Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, and since 2019, the name was changed to Equal! - Office for Equal Opportunities and Diversity. By the strategical expansion of the diversity topics in 2021, it was renamed to ETH Diversity.
  
• A programme with a large number of measures for the advancement of women at ETH (Förderungsprogramm 1996–1999) was compiled by Silvia Wyler, ETH’s first equal opportunity commissioner (75 %), and Professor Katharina von Salis (counselor, 25 %) in collaboration with different internal working groups.
• In 2007, Katharina von Salis was awarded the Dr. Ida Somazzi prize in recognition of her great commitment to the advancement of women at ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities (Download laudatory speech (PDF, 332 KB) german only).
• In 2013, ETH Diversity commemorated its 20 years anniversary with an exhibition on the topic of stereotypes.
  
• From 2007 to 2020, ETH Diversity has been affiliated to the ETH president’s office. Since 2021, it has been assigned to the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, which is chaired by Julia Dannath.

History of Women at ETH Zurich