Charter for Women in Science

Athena Swan Event 2012

Title:  Going for Silver

Date:  20th January 2012

The University held its second annual Athena Swan event attended by over sixty people representing every SET Academic Department in the University including Heads of Department and Senior Staff and Corporate Services Divisions including HR, Staff Development Partnership and Corporate Affairs and Planning.  

The event was opened by the Vice Chancellor who emphasised the University’s desire to improve gender equality as an end it itself  independent of any awards the University might gain in the process.

We then heard from our guest speaker, Dame Professor Athene Donald, from the University of Cambridge. Professor Donald delighted delegates with an inspirational and comprehensive account of gender inequality within academic science. She went on to describe many ways in which Departments can act to remove barriers to success and development for both women and men.

A lively ‘Question Time’ was chaired by Professor Paul Cullis (Chair of the Athena Swan Working Group) during which  views of panellists and delegates were shared and votes were taken on a wide variety of questions. 

A full acount of the event including the results of various polls taken during the event will be available shortly. Also available soon will be a comprehensive template for the use of Departments in preparation for Athena Swan silver submissions. This will be designed to point toward available resources, suggest good practice for common scenarios and share experiences and good practices established in various Departments. 

• Presentation given by Dame Professor Athene Donald 

•  Report on Strategy for obtaining an institutional silver award

(This report is only available to University Staff & Students)

What is Athena Swan? 

The Athena Swan Charter recognises and celebrates good employment practice for women working in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) in higher education. 

Why is this important?  

Women are under-represented in science, the more senior the role the greater the deficit.  In some disciplines there is significant under-representation of women at all levels.

Disciplines with serious under-representation of one gender runs the risk of missing talented people it would otherwise gain and retain.  Disciplines dominated by one gender are likely to have an unbalanced approach and  in every discipline the richness and variety of the subject deserves the attention of an equally diverse approach. 

How does this affect the University of Leicester?

The University gained the Athena Swan Bronze Award in September 2008 for its work and proposals to improve the participation of women in SET within the University.

Indeed, we want to remove all barriers to both men and women that exist as a consequence of their gender.  These more commonly apply to women but not exclusively.

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