The COVID-19 health crisis has had and will have a big impact in our lives. It is a complex situation that is challenging to all of us as individuals, families and workers.

MAGGIE has developed a tool based on indicators that evaluates the gender gap that exists in high-level political events. COVID-19 has altered the way the academic and political conferences are carried out, changing what we know and are trying to study. MAGGIE’s team has then been working on adapting its tool indicators and the monitoring process so it can also be used for online events, not only in situ.

We have developed a new list of indicators, according to the specific characteristics of the online events. We have tested them in a high-level political event: the OECD Forum 2019. It took place in May 2019 in Paris (France) and its panel sessions were fully recorded. The researchers have monitored the event with the purpose to test the improved tool. The results for this event are shown in the “Monitored Conferences” tab in this website. 

The results are based on the analysis of 15 panel sessions (more than 25 recorded hours), evaluating the differences in exposition time between women and men or different roles of participation, among others. Our findings show a good behavior level with respect to gender issues. The event achieved a green level in different indicators, which is considered as a good practice.

This provides a good starting point, and gives us confidence to continue developing our tool during this unexpected times.