Section 5a of the Act on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesgleichstellungsgesetz - LGG) lays down the obligation of the universities to adopt an equal opportunity plan for a period of three years. At Paderborn University, a framework plan for the equality of women and men was adopted for the entire university. On the basis of the framework plan for the equality of women and men, the faculties, the central institutions and the administration of Paderborn University draw up specific equal opportunities plans for the respective areas with concrete targets and timelines as well as measures to increase the proportion of women.

_{*In accordance with the new version of the LGG (14 December 2016), there is a change in the designation of the "women's promotion plans" (Frauenförderpläne). The new documents from 2017 now bear the name "Equal Opportunity Plans".}