There are a number of eye-catching flyers and posters hanging on the walls of the University. However, the series of posters from the Coordinating Office for Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality (KFG) at TU Berlin particularly stands out. They include texts such as “I am your colleague and not your sweetie” or “The suggestion was just as good when my female colleague made it five minutes ago”. “We had roughly 700 posters printed and they are already all taken. We’ve had requests from various units and offices at the University,” explains Annica Peter, vice deputy for the main women’s representative. With its initiative “Time for a cultural change! Fight sexism in all forms,” the KFG aims to raise awareness of sexist behavior and patterns, which are so deeply rooted in our society that they often go unnoticed, and encourage University members to address these – regardless of their position.
The ten posters, whose motifs focus mainly on problems faced by women, deliver a clear message: How a person looks, their salary, the number of children they have or their sexual orientation should not influence how seriously a person at our University is taken or result in their experiencing harassment. The initiative’s website also offers comprehensive information about sexism, strategies for countering sexism, and free advising and continuing education offers. “We were especially happy to receive such positive feedback from participants of the masculinity workshop led by Nenad Cˇupic. It was of particular importance to us that this initiative address all University members and provide offers for different target groups, including explicitly for men,” says Anna Schreiner, advisor on women's advancement and gender equality. “Only together can we succeed in making the University a better place.”