Facts and figures strengthen our ability to undertake cultural and structural actions towards Gender Equality. We believe that sharing MINDtheGEPs knowledge on gender imbalances can contribute to sustainable change. This policy brief includes recommendations for how to build an evidence-based foundation for gender equality plans (GEPs) in research performing organizations, based on the assumption that without data, there will be no policy. We need several types of data to be able to capture the various push and pull factors that (de)construct gender inequalities during different phases of a research career (early, middle, late) and at different levels (individual, organizational, national). Why? Because gender is a social structure that is characterized by multiple intersected barriers, requiring multiple intersected actions to be removed. This policy brief was written for research performing organizations (public and private universities and research centres), European Commission and members of the scientific community. The recommendations in this policy brief are based on the MINDtheGEPs deliverable report 2.2 submitted to the European Commission. Data from this report will be made public in peer-reviewed publications and working papers from the project.