Athena SWAN

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Athena Swan (Scientific Women's Academic Network) Charter
Created2005
Commissioned byEquality Challenge Unit
SubjectAward for organisations
PurposeRecognises organisations' commitment to, and progress on, equality and diversity, particularly race and gender

Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 [1] that recognises and celebrates good practices in higher education and research institutions towards the advancement of gender equality: representation, progression and success. [2]

Contents

History

The Athena SWAN charter was established in 2005 and the first awards were conferred in 2006. The initial charter set out to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) institutions of higher education and research. [3] In 2011, the UK Chief Medical Officer made it a requirement for academic departments applying for funding from the National Institute for Health Research to hold the Athena SWAN silver award. [4] This requirement was removed in 2020. [5]

In May 2015 the charter was expanded to include non-STEMM departments including arts, humanities, social sciences, business, and law. Additionally, it expanded to cover additional communities including professional and support staff, technical staff, as well as transgender staff and students. [6] The first awards to non-STEMM university departments were announced in April 2016. [7] The new charter recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women. [8]

Award details

Members (universities) who sign up to the charter are expected to apply for an Athena SWAN award, [8] at Bronze, Silver or Gold level. Each award is valid for four years under the post-2015 rules (three years where pre-2015 rules apply).

They commit to adopting ten principles, [9] which focus on promoting and supporting gender equality for women. These are:

*We acknowledge that academia cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all.

The ten principles have been criticised for failing to mention collective bargaining, for failing to address unconscious bias in paying "market" rates of pay, and failing to address the sex discrimination inherent in child care rights to paid leave and the lasting negative impact this has on relative career advancement for those taking long maternity and short paternity leave. It has also been found that "there is no evidence that Athena SWAN membership and award level have any impact" on "the gender pay gap and the proportion of women in the top quartile of pay". [10]

Reception

An exploratory study of women's and men's perceptions of Athena SWAN in 2017 was broadly positive, and highlighted the significance of government funding being linked to Athena SWAN awards; it also highlighted the limitations of the process to change long-standing and entrenched issues in society. [11] A 2019 study of the university culture in medical and social sciences attributed a more positive culture in medical sciences to the widespread implementation of Athena SWAN gender equality action plans, linked to the funding incentives of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). [12] A 2020 study examining the effect of Athena SWAN funding incentives on women's research leadership in NIHR Biomedical Research Centres found a rise in the number of women in mid-level leadership positions and the proportion of funding going to women. [13]

According to empirical research carried out at the University of Bath, "there is no evidence that Athena SWAN membership and award level have any impact" on "the gender pay gap and the proportion of women in the top quartile of pay". [10] Some commentators consider it to be largely window-dressing with little impact on lived experiences of women working in universities. [14] Others have indicated an apparent failure to find any significant impact of Athena SWAN awards on changes in the proportion of women in senior leadership positions or professorial posts based on data held be the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for consecutive years between 2012 and 2019. [15]

The Athena SWAN charter is now used by some institutions in conjunction with the Race Equality charter and issues of gender and race inequality become conflated. [16] [17]

In November 2021, The Times reported concerns about the Athena SWAN programme; barrister Naomi Cunningham described it as "totalitarian and unlawful" while historian Selina Todd, in a letter to the editor, said it "promotes a controversial view of sex and gender". [18] [19] Within the Irish context in particular (see below), it has been suggested that institutional commitment to the charter poses a risk to academic freedom. [20] [21]

International

Australia

An Australian pilot of the Charter began in 2015 and is overseen by SAGE Ltd., a not-for-profit company created from a partnership of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. [22] [23]

Ireland

In 2015 the Charter entered Irish higher education. [6] [17] It is supported by the Athena SWAN National Committee which has representatives from higher education institutes, Advance HE, the Higher Education Authority, Irish research agencies, the Irish Universities Association and the Technological Higher Education Association. [24] As of April 2024, there was a total of 131 award holders, 119 of these were Bronze Awards and the remainder were Silver. [25]

Influence

Despite being in its nascent stage, research into the effects of the Charter on the careers of women indicates a positive impact on gender diversity among both managerial leaders and non-managerial academics, [26] as well as female research leaders. The latter is attributed to the introduction of Athena SWAN research funding incentives, which promote research and leadership opportunities for women. [27] However, it is important to note that these improvements are not ubiquitous across all academic disciplines, [28] and Charter-induced interventions may take some time to produce tangible results, as the influence of diversity charters follows a trajectory of maturity. [29]

USA

In 2017 Advance HE supported the American Association for the Advancement of Science in introducing a pilot scheme called STEM Equity Achievement (SEA) Change programme. SEA Change borrows from Athena SWAN but is broader in scope. [23]

Canada

In 2018 Canada introduced the Dimensions pilot programme. Supported by Advance HE, Dimensions aims to draw on the Athena SWAN methodology to recognise institutions that are inclusive of underrepresented groups. [23]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Home page". ecu.ac.uk. Equality Challenge Unit. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Barnard, Sarah (2017), White, Kate; O'Connor, Pat (eds.), "The Athena SWAN Charter: Promoting Commitment to Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions in the UK", Gendered Success in Higher Education: Global Perspectives, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 155–174, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-56659-1_8, ISBN   978-1-137-56659-1 , retrieved 19 September 2021
  3. ↑ Solomon, Tom (26 November 2014). "How to create a better future for women in science". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Donald, Athene; Harvey, Paul H.; McLean, Angela R. (5 October 2011). "Athena SWAN awards: Bridging the gender gap in UK science". Nature. 478 (7367): 36. Bibcode:2011Natur.478R..36D. doi: 10.1038/478036b . ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   21979032.
  5. ↑ "NIHR responds to the Government's call for further reduction in bureaucracy with new measures". nihr.ac.uk.
  6. 1 2 Drew, Eileen (1 June 2021). "Navigating unChartered waters: anchoring Athena SWAN into Irish HEIs". Journal of Gender Studies. 31: 23–35. doi: 10.1080/09589236.2021.1923463 . ISSN   0958-9236.
  7. ↑ Grove, Jack (28 April 2016). "First non-STEM Athena SWAN winners named". Times Higher Education . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Athena SWAN Charter". ecu.ac.uk. Equality Challenge Unit. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "About ECU's Athena SWAN Charter". ecu.ac.uk. Equality Challenge Unit. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  10. 1 2 F Amery, 'Why do UK universities have such large gender pay gaps?' (25 April 2019) Political Studies Association
  11. ↑ Ovseiko, Pavel V.; Chapple, Alison; Edmunds, Laurel D.; Ziebland, Sue (21 February 2017). "Advancing gender equality through the Athena SWAN Charter for Women in Science: an exploratory study of women's and men's perceptions". Health Research Policy and Systems . 15 (1). BMC: 12. doi: 10.1186/s12961-017-0177-9 . PMC   5320775 . PMID   28222735.
  12. ↑ Ovseiko, Pavel V.; Pololi, Linda H.; Edmunds, Laurel D.; Civian, Jan T.; Daly, Mary; Buchan, Alastair M. (2019). "Creating a more supportive and inclusive university culture: a mixed-methods interdisciplinary comparative analysis of medical and social sciences at the University of Oxford". Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 44 (2): 184–185. Bibcode:2019ISRv...44..166O. doi: 10.1080/03080188.2019.1603880 .
  13. ↑ Ovseiko, Pavel V.; Taylor, Mark; Gilligan, Ruth E.; Birks, Jacqueline; Elhussein, Leena; Rogers, Mike; Tesanovic, Sonja; Hernandez, Jazmin; Wells, Glenn; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Buchan, Alastair M. (26 October 2020). "Effect of Athena SWAN funding incentives on women's research leadership". BMJ. 371: m3975. doi:10.1136/bmj.m3975. ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   33106283. S2CID   225063205.
  14. ↑ Christine Mathew, Ruby (January 2021). The impact of Athena Swan accreditation on the lived experiences of early- and mid-career researchers: A qualitative study of an Athena Swan gold award-holding department (phd thesis). University of York.
  15. ↑ Armstrong, John, Sullivan, Alice (14 May 2023). "A Time-Series Analysis of the Impact of Athena Swan on the Representation of Women in Senior Roles". SSRN.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Henderson, Holly; Bhopal, Kalwant (20 February 2021). "Narratives of academic staff involvement in Athena SWAN and race equality charter marks in UK higher education institutions". Journal of Education Policy. 37 (5): 781–797. doi:10.1080/02680939.2021.1891576. ISSN   0268-0939. S2CID   233900998.
  17. 1 2 O’Mullane, Monica (1 August 2021). "Developing a theoretical framework for exploring the institutional responses to the Athena SWAN Charter in higher education institutions—A feminist institutionalist perspective". Irish Journal of Sociology. 29 (2): 215–235. doi: 10.1177/0791603521995372 . hdl: 10468/14246 . ISSN   0791-6035.
  18. ↑ Ames, Jonathan; Ellery, Ben (6 November 2021). "University gender course offered by Advance HE is unlawful, barrister says". The Times . Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  19. ↑ Todd, Selina (3 November 2021). "FEARS FOR ACADEMIA". The Times . Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  20. ↑ Colfer, Colette (18 November 2021). "Stifling Academic Freedom". Broadsheet.ie. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  21. ↑ O'Brien, Carl (27 February 2024). "Staff requirement to promote 'gender ideology' is threat to academic freedom, say lecturers". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  22. ↑ Nash, Meredith; Grant, Ruby; Lee, Li-Min; Martinez-Marrades, Ariadna; Winzenberg, Tania (23 February 2021). "An exploration of perceptions of gender equity among SAGE Athena SWAN self-assessment team members in a regional Australian university". Higher Education Research & Development. 40 (2): 356–369. doi:10.1080/07294360.2020.1737657. ISSN   0729-4360. S2CID   216298391.
  23. 1 2 3 "International Charters". Advance-HE.ac.uk. Advance HE. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  24. ↑ "Athena SWAN Charter in Ireland". HEA.ie.
  25. ↑ "Athena Swan Ireland: List of Award holders". Advance-HE.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  26. ↑ Xiao, Yunyu; Pinkney, Edward; Au, Terry Kit Fong; Yip, Paul Siu Fai (1 February 2020). "Athena SWAN and gender diversity: a UK-based retrospective cohort study". BMJ Open. 10 (2): e032915. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032915. ISSN   2044-6055. PMC   7044944 . PMID   32051310.
  27. ↑ Ovseiko, Pavel V.; Taylor, Mark; Gilligan, Ruth E.; Birks, Jacqueline; Elhussein, Leena; Rogers, Mike; Tesanovic, Sonja; Hernandez, Jazmin; Wells, Glenn; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Buchan, Alastair M. (26 October 2020). "Effect of Athena SWAN funding incentives on women's research leadership". BMJ. 371: m3975. doi:10.1136/bmj.m3975. ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   33106283. S2CID   225063205.
  28. ↑ Gregory-Smith, Ian (1 September 2018). "Positive Action Towards Gender Equality: Evidence from the Athena SWAN Charter in UK Medical Schools: Athena SWAN in UK Medical Schools". British Journal of Industrial Relations. 56 (3): 463–483. doi:10.1111/bjir.12252. S2CID   158256914.
  29. ↑ Chapman, Gary; Nasirov, Shukhrat; Özbilgin, Mustafa (1 August 2022). "Workforce Diversity, Diversity Charters and Collective Turnover: Long‐term Commitment Pays". British Journal of Management. 34 (3): 1467–8551.12644. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12644 . ISSN   1045-3172. S2CID   251267768.
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