What is Athena Swan?
The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used to across the globe to support and transform gender equity within higher education and research, and advances gender equity for all.
The charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research. In May 2015, the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and the charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
We are committed to improving gender equity at the University, and we currently hold a Bronze institutional Athena SWAN award. Additionally, 15 out of 18 eligible academic departments hold an Athena SWAN award including four at the Silver level.
Athena SWAN Awards at Essex
We achieved our first institutional Bronze Athena SWAN award in September 2013, and most recently renewed our award in March 2024. You can see our five-year institutional action plan (.pdf).
We are also committed to all of our eligible departments holding an Athena Swan Award.
Impact of Athena SWAN
Since the introduction of Athena SWAN, we have introduced a number of policies and programmes for the benefit of our employees and students.
Examples include:
- continuing to close our gender pay gap
- establishing our Essex Women’s Network
- establishing our trans and non-binary staff and student network
- creating a more family-friendly working environment by introducing: Parent Mentoring Scheme, Career Development Fund for Carers and revised Work-Life Balance Policy (.pdf) and Care Leave Policy
- creating menopause guidance for employees and associated guidance for managers
- creating the Miscarriage, Still Birth and Infertility Policy and associated guidance for managers (.pdf)
- introducing additional family-friendly policies, including the Surrogacy Leave and Pay Policy
- creating the Tackling Misogyny, Harassment, Sexism and Sexual Violence Against Women Policy for employees and students and guidance for students
- embedding unconscious bias training across the University
- creating our approach to supporting trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming staff
- publishing additional resources for managers and employees on pregnancy leave and maternity leave
- dedicated recruitment advertising to attract women into STEM roles and careers
- arranging regular sessions on annual review for academic and professional services employees
- offering internal and external leadership training courses
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