The European Commission's Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 stresses the need to mainstream gender in all policy areas, including education. In Lithuania, while discussions on gender mainstreaming in general education have been ongoing for more than a decade, the process has been limited to the development of gender equality plans, without clearly developed programs, methodologies or tools, and in general has been challenged by lack of policy, expertise and support in the higher education institutions. Meanwhile integration of gender aspect considering intersectionality approach into curricula in higher education would promote critical thinking condemning gender inequalities and other discriminations. Furthermore, integration of the gender aspect would enrich academic discourse, contribute to the diversity and quality of learning content and reflect the experiences of diverse groups in society.

Empirically, the paper stands on the study accomplished in framework of the Erasmus+ KA2 project TInGLE – Academia, Through Intersectional and Gendered Lens to Equity in Academia. A case – one social science faculty of Lithuanian university – was selected for exploring how (if at all) gender perspectives (considering intersectionality aspects) were integrated into the curricula of Bachelor and Master level programs in 2022/2023 academic year. A content analysis of 346 curricula showed that gender aspect was integrated, but rather poorly and fragmentary. Also gender sensitive language was used just in several curricula and in rather incoherent way. The intersectionality approach was absent in the curricula. Thus, gender and other potential grounds for discrimination are invisible in the analyzed curricula.

Looking from social constructionist perspective, the findings leads to conclusion that current analyzed curricula of the faculty does not contribute to students’ socialization – construction of shared theoretical and practice based knowledge, norms and skills – in terms of gender and other intersecting aspects of oneness. Thus, striving for contributing to supporting development of the more sensitive, equal and open society, the higher education institutions requires major changes on both the institutional (i.e. developing efficient gender sensitive and inclusive policies, eliminating institutional barriers and resistances to gender / intersectionality sensitive topics) and individual (i.e. increasing level of gender / intersectionality and inclusion awareness, knowledge and skills) levels.

Keywords: Integration of gender / intersectional aspect, gender mainstreaming, university curricula, gender equality, higher education, social constructionism.