The paper, 'Women, research and universities: excellence without gender bias', finds that academia in Europe is still losing a considerable amount of its female research capacity, with 45 per cent of women gaining PhDs subsequently opting out of an academic career.
In response, LERU universities have committed to actions to: promote gender diversity among their academic staff with strong leadership; develop or continue to implement Gender Equality Strategies and/or Action Plans; and engage with EU policy makers, funders and other actors to promote the cause of gender equality at universities. The report also contains a series of recommendations for different types of bodies, suggesting for example that universities should “commit at the top and throughout the institution to gender equality” and that funders of research should “develop their own gender strategies or action plans”. An appendix to the report gives information on new policies and changing practices at LERU universities.

Source: http://www.leru.org/index.php/public/publications/