1. The Athena SWAN Charter – what you need to know
Dr Sam Riches, Lancaster University Athena SWAN Lead.
Presented to Lancaster University Athena SWAN Forum, 11 July 2017

2. The fundamentals… what is University policy on AS?
The university’s new EDI Strategic Vision 2020 includes, as a strategic objective, that FASS departments should gain Athena SWAN Bronze awards in Objectives were set via consultation with faculty deans and other senior figures. ob

3. Why do we need Athena SWAN?
To promote and support gender equality in HE
To tackle existing inequalities, such as underrepresentation of women at senior levels
For practical reasons, for example to secure future research funding

4. Gender bias in academia and elsewhere
Research has shown that:
Job references describe men in terms of their ability but women in terms of their work ethic (goo.gl/ZXg5Tj)
References for women emphasise the ‘wrong’ skills, such as ability to balance family life and research. References for men rarely mention these issues (goo.gl/egFS5a)
Women are described as ‘helpful’ or ‘kind’, while men are described as ‘ambitious’ and ‘independent’ (goo.gl/QuTv0s)

5. Gender bias (2)
In teaching assessments by students of all gender identities, men are described in terms such as ‘charismatic’ or ‘brilliant’, while women are described as ‘bossy’ or ‘helpful’. The term ‘shrill’ is only ever used of women, and only ever used negatively (goo.gl/d5u3Li)
Women are seen as competent or likeable but not both (goo.gl/VElYf4)
Work assumed to be by men is consistently judged to be superior to that assumed to be by women, by both men and women (goo.gl/ok1Dn1)

6. The Athena SWAN principles
1. We acknowledge that academia cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all.
2. We commit to advancing gender equality in academia, in particular, addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the absence of women from senior academic, professional and support roles.
3. We commit to addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines and professional and support functions. In this we recognise disciplinary differences including:
- the relative underrepresentation of women in senior roles in arts,
humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL)
- the particularly high loss rate of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)

7. The Athena SWAN principles (2)
4. We commit to tackling the gender pay gap.
5. We commit to removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression including the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career.
6. We commit to addressing the negative consequences of using short-term contracts for the retention and progression of staff in academia, particularly women.
7. We commit to tackling the discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people.
Rob

8. The Athena SWAN principles (3)
8. We acknowledge that advancing gender equality demands commitment and action from all levels of the organisation and in particular active leadership from those in senior roles.
9. We commit to making and mainstreaming sustainable structural and cultural changes to advance gender equality, recognising that initiatives and actions that support individuals alone will not sufficiently advance equality.
10. All individuals have identities shaped by several different factors. We commit to considering the intersection of gender and other factors wherever possible.

9. Gender distribution across career stages – a snapshot

10. Future funding could be affected
The National Institute for Health Research, which funds all research for NHS England, has made access to some funding streams contingent on the academic partner having an Athena SWAN Silver award.
This is operational NOW – medical schools and related departments must already hold a Silver award to access these research grants.
Could other Research Councils follow suit?

11. Future funding (2)
RCUK has stated it wants to be “recognised as a leader in equality and diversity in the research community”.
It has explicitly stated: “At this time, RCUK does not require formal accreditation, such as Athena SWAN, for grant funding; however, we will be reviewing and may consider such measures if there is no evidence of improvement.”

12. Potential to affect REF
The Research Environment element of REF 2014 included an assessment of how well departments promote equality and diversity.
REF has since stated: “Work is still needed to improve the representation of minority groups and to improve gender equality within academia. We were impressed with HEIs which recognised these imperfections and made efforts to address them. It is important that institutions proactively address inequalities in staff selection rather than simply accept them as a general ‘sector issue’.”

13. Timeline for departmental submission
3. Formation of departmental self-assessment team (SAT)
5. Analyse staff and student data and conduct staff survey
1. Initial commitment from HoD
6. Identify key gender equality challenges
8. Complete and submit Athena SWAN application
2. Appointment of departmental Athena SWAN lead
4. SAT meets monthly at first
4. (contd) SAT continues to meet at least termly, preferably more often
7. Adopt a series of actions to address these issues
Overall timeframe: 1-2 years

14. Self-assessment team (1)
“Having an effective self-assessment team will be key to the success of an application.”
“The submission will require significant reflective analysis, which should be driven as far as possible by the full team (rather than it being reliant on a few or single individuals).”
Quotes are extracts from the Athena SWAN handbook

15. Self-assessment team (2)
“The team should comprise a mixture of grades and roles representing different stages of the career... the self-assessment team should be representative of the staff in the department, and should usually include student representation.”

16. Self-assessment team (3)
“The self-assessment team must meet at least three times a year.”
Informally, we have been told that roughly speaking, Athena SWAN would like to see teams meeting around once a month at the beginning.
In addition, the SAT would preferably have been constituted around a year before submission.

17. Data analysis
Athena SWAN action should be driven by analysing data to see where major gender equality challenges lie

18. Action plan
Actions must be tailored to tackle the issues raised by the data
Actions must be on a departmental level – it’s not enough just to say what the University as a whole does
Many actions are standard and can be found in our Quick Actions Checklist

19. Resources
The Athena SWAN handbook gives detailed information on how to fill in the application form. It is available at goo.gl/T151je
Athena SWAN provides other resources including benchmarking data and an action plan template. Google ‘Athena SWAN resources’.

20. Resources (2) HR provides a number of resources, including
Athena SWAN – Getting Started
A basic overview of the Athena SWAN process
Guide for Departments
A very detailed guide to Athena SWAN applications
Quick actions checklist
Some first steps you can take to tackle common issues
Staff survey template (via Bristol Online Surveys)
See: