From Plan to Practice: A Maturity Framework for Implementing a Gender Equality Plan: The Case of the University of Primorska

Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) have been an eligibility requirement for Horizon Europe funding since 2022, yet formal adoption does not necessarily alter organizational routines, culture, or resource allocation. This article examines the process of moving from compliance toward institutionalized practice through a longitudinal single-case study of the University of Primorska (UP), a smaller university in a resource-constrained Widening-country context. We compare the first analytical observation period (2021–2025), based on its 2021–2027 GEP, with GEP 2.0 (2026–2030). Evidence combines documentary analysis, selected gender-disaggregated indicators, three focus groups ( n = 24), and aggregated staff-survey results for 2024–2025. We develop the Gender Equality Plan Maturity Index (GEP-MI), an unweighted six-dimensional heuristic scored from 0 to 18. The document-based, triangulated score rises from 7 to 15, indicating more explicit governance, data routines, and resourcing, but not durable implementation outcomes. Qualitative evidence illustrates three overlapping categories associated with the paper–practice gap: passive resistance (skepticism and box-ticking), active ideological resistance (naturalization and denial), and structural implementation constraints (including administrative infeasibility and unequal care burdens). A documentary comparison with the Universities of Ljubljana and Maribor contextualizes differences in formal design; it does not establish the prevalence of these categories beyond UP. We define audit-induced decoupling under constrained resources as the risk that audited requirements redirect scarce capacity toward demonstrable compliance rather than substantive change. The case offers a transparent monitoring heuristic and suggests that proportionate capacity support warrants consideration alongside European conditionality.