Leading the future: Shifting the focus to women’s leadership in academia

Barcelona, 23 April 2026 – Despite women making up over 50% of graduates in UfM Member States such as Syria and Tunisia, a persistent glass ceiling keeps them critically underrepresented in top academic roles, with limited number of university heads at regional level. Highlighting structural barriers, advancements and solutions, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Catalan Development Cooperation Agency (ACCD) hosted the high-level webinar, “Leading the Future: Women at the Helm of Mediterranean Science and Higher Education.”

Opening the event, UfM Deputy Secretary General Petra Kežman stressed that closing the leadership gap in higher education is not only a matter of equality, but a strategic imperative for the future of the Mediterranean region. “When women are excluded from leadership, the whole region loses,” she stated, adding that “women’s leadership is a driver of excellence, innovation, peace and development.” She reaffirmed the UfM’s commitment to making gender-sensitive leadership a cross-cutting priority, including through the new Women Leading Change initiative and upcoming policy dialogues.

Echoing the need for actionable solutions, Andrea Costafreda, Director General for Development Cooperation, Government of Catalonia highlighted their commitment to concrete capacity-building to empower tomorrow’s leaders.

Delivering the keynote address, Maria Cristina Russo from the European Commission emphasized that gender equality is a prerequisite for excellent science and good governance. She noted that the EU’s commitment is translated into regional action through the UfM Research and Innovation Platform and sitting at the heart of the Pact for the Mediterranean. Women must increasingly shape research agendas rather than just contribute to them.

The first session, “Women in Academic Leadership,” focused on driving tangible institutional reform to overcome entrenched biases, highlighting how deeply institutional culture and leadership practices shape progress toward gender equality in higher education. Benefiting from insights from the We4Lead project (Aix-Marseille University), speakers presented gender equality as a strategic process that requires sustained capacity building and concrete mechanisms to enable a truly transformative approach. They emphasized that while strong top-down commitment is crucial, Gender Equality Plans only succeed when supported by collective bottom-up engagement, dedicated gender-sensitive budgeting, and robust data to track women’s substantive decision-making power rather than mere descriptive representation.

Translating these insights into action, the session culminated in the presentation of the newly launched UfM project, Women Leading Change. Supported by the ACCD and implemented across ten universities in Morocco, Lebanon, and Syria, the initiative aims to strengthen institutional capacity to design and sustain truly inclusive leadership models for the future.

The second session, focusing on scientific leadership, highlighted that closing the gender gap in research and innovation is no longer solely a matter of fairness, but a critical driver of regional competitiveness. Prof. Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli, awarded the UNESCO-L’Oreal Prize for Women in Science, shared her personal journey and presented data illustrating that while women are heavily present in laboratories, they remain largely invisible in management. The problem is not a lack of qualified women, but a system hampered by structural and mental barriers.

Bringing together leading scientists, policymakers, and institutional leaders, the ensuing panel discussion emphasized the urgent need to move women from the implementation stage into strategic decision-making. Panelists, including representatives from SESAME, the UK FCDO, the European Commission, and PRIMA, advocated for supporting women holistically through tools such as mentoring, sponsorship, policy levers, and positive incentives such as awards. One key strategy that emerged for altering power dynamics was ensuring women are included early in strategic decision-making and scientific advisory committees.

Ultimately, the discussion underscored that true transformation cannot rely on good will alone; it requires mandatory structural levers, contextualized policies, and a collective commitment to empowering the next generation of women leaders across the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Results will be integrated in the UfM Women Leading Change project and reported to the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation.