Press release -
Northumbria University Awarded Athena Swan Silver for Advancing Gender Equality
Northumbria University has been awarded the Athena Swan Charter Silver Award by Advance HE in recognition of its commitment to promoting and achieving gender equality.
The Athena Swan Charter was set up in 2005 to recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women. It is a framework used worldwide to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research. It uses a targeted and robust self-assessment framework to support applicants to identify areas for positive action and act on any institutional and cultural barriers. Prior to the successful Silver application, the University held a Bronze Award from 2015.
Northumbria’s achievement of a Silver award gives recognition to the University’s commitments to advance progress and strive for greater achievements, including making their processes more inclusive to help attract and retain women at all levels of the organisation.
The judging panel commended the evidence of success to date in addressing gender inequalities, including the improved maternity and paternity benefits and the improvement in the gender pay gap at senior levels.
Dr Heather Robson, Faculty Pro-Vice Chancellor and Senior Sponsor for advancing Gender Equality at Northumbria, said: “I would like to thank everybody who supported the work on this application, shaping our six key priorities and identifying the specific actions in our Action Plan. As a University we are committed to promoting and achieving gender equality and this Silver Award demonstrates the progress we are making. We have already begun work on the actions outlined in our plan and we will continue to ensure that our gender equality aims are embedded in all that we do.”
Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, added: “We are delighted to move from a Bronze to a Silver Athena Swan Award, highlighting our commitment and progress to date in achieving gender equality. This award recognises that we have made significant efforts to make our processes more inclusive. Northumbria’s Strategy 2030 commits to the elimination of median pay gaps for gender, ethnicity and disability. We fully recognise the work ahead of us, as outlined in the six priorities. The Action Plan will remain active and will ensure that we continue to address current and emerging gender priorities, so that all colleagues and students are in a community where they feel they belong.”
Find out more about Northumbria’s membership of the Athena Swan Charter.
Further information on the Athena SWAN charter, individual departmental awards and the Athena SWAN action plan can be found on our dedicated pages.
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Two thirds of Northumbria's undergraduate students come from the North East region and go into employment in the region when they graduate, demonstrating Northumbria's significant contribution to social mobility and levelling up in the North East of England.
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