The gold standard
Last year, the chemistry department at the University of York celebrated ten years of holding an Athena SWAN gold award, making them the only department in the UK to have held this award for three consecutive rounds. We take a look at some of the schemes the department has introduced to address gender equality and support diversity.
The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 by the Equality Challenge Unit (now Advance HE) to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine 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, and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
“It’s pleasing to remember that we were already well-embarked on creating a good working environment where all staff could flourish before the Athena SWAN awards were created,” says Dr Caroline Dessent, chair of the diversity and equality group at the University of York.
It’s pleasing to remember that we were already well-embarked on creating a good working environment where all staff could flourish
“Informally this can be traced to the time around the new millennium when the outgoing and incoming Heads of Department, Professors Bruce Gilbert and Robin Perutz, were beginning to think about ways to better support the relatively small number of female academic and research staff in the department, as well as how to improve the number of role models that our undergraduate students encountered. In 2004, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) published its report ‘Good Practice in University Chemistry Departments’ and Professor Perutz asked Professor Jane Thomas-Oates to chair a working group to consider the report’s recommendations and whether the department should implement any new practices. The work of this committee formed a strong base from which to apply for our first Athena SWAN award when the scheme was announced.”
The working group recommended a number of actions that were relatively simple and straightforward for the department to implement, such as considering the timings of meetings and seminars so that they weren’t disproportionately inconvenient to those with caring responsibilities, declaring family-friendly policies in recruitment material and holding an annual promotion seminar, including statistics from previous successful applicants.
In subsequent rounds for Athena SWAN awards, with further leadership from Dr Anne Routledge and Professor Paul Walton, the group developed more formal and ambitious policies to address challenges that women may face across their scientific careers, from undergraduate through to professor. This has included flagship support for flexible working and a ‘part-time working assurance’, allowing their staff to request changes to their working hours without the threat of losing a future full-time contract. They also embedded training and careers support for researchers, introduced a focus on the risks of unconscious bias, and updated departmental maternity, paternity and adoption guidelines. “It is vital to say that, in all this work, we have never aimed to target measures specifically at women,” says Caroline.
“Our aim has always been to develop good practices that are fair, flexible, transparent and beneficial to all. This has been really important in keeping the support of all of the department’s staff over the last decade and has led to inclusivity, which goes far beyond the original remit of Athena SWAN and aims to provide a welcoming environment, which actively supports all members of the department, irrespective of gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity or background.”
It is especially rewarding to see how some of our home-grown talent has developed
So has this work made a difference? “The last 10 years have seen real and substantial progress in the numbers of female academic staff at all grades within the department,” says Caroline. “It is perhaps especially rewarding to see how some of our ‘home-grown talent’ (female staff who entered as junior lecturers) has developed. Dr Jacqui Hamilton, Dr Kirsty Penkman and I are all now Readers, while Lucy Carpenter is Professor and Deputy Head of Department (Research). All of us have benefited from the department’s policies, enabling us to work part-time and flexibly around our family responsibilities. Perhaps one of the most satisfying and remarkable achievements is the way in which part-time working is now widely accepted across the department, with several male academic staff also taking advantage of working part-time to balance family and work commitments.
“The biggest unsolved problem is that change is not fast. While you can certainly see clear changes happening over 10 years, effecting real changes over the three-year cycle of an Athena SWAN award is very challenging. It is also essential not to rest on our laurels and to recognise the ongoing challenges faced by all in higher education to ensure greater inclusion and success of those from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as those from black and minority ethnic communities.”
Helen's work as departmental manager
Dr Helen Coombs is the Departmental Manager for the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. She joined the department in 1999 as a research group administrator and was involved in setting up the department’s flexible working policy with Professor Paul Walton. She tells us how her current role continues to support and enforce their inclusion and diversity aims.
“I developed the flexible working scheme alongside Paul and we also put in place the part-time working assurance which states: ‘The department strongly supports flexible working and, subject to available finances and role availability, expects to approve all reasonable requests from full-time staff to move to part-time working and vice-versa’. To date we have approved all these requests.
"Paul also introduced unconscious bias observation to staff recruitment panels and I help to co-ordinate this for different staff recruitments; this year it was extended by colleagues to PhD student recruitment panels. The observation is part of a team effort but I check that all staff sitting on panels have had the appropriate training, sending out reminders and information for each recruitment.
"A promotion seminar is held each year and run by either the HoD or Deputy HoD and together we ensure that information about the promotion process including the seminar is disseminated to all staff. All draft promotion cases are considered before formal submission by a Departmental Personnel Advisory Group so that feedback can be given on an individual basis. I am happy to answer any staff queries as they go through the process by email or face to face.
“As well as the above, I provide advice to anyone who asks for it about all sorts of different policies, schemes and guidelines. This could be central HR policies, recruitment or contract changes, flexible working, mediation, performance review and training activities. I am also part of a team of trained Mental Health First Aiders who can offer support in this area.
“There is a sense of satisfaction when a new set of guidelines or scheme we have introduced makes a difference to staff and students and when some of the good ideas we have in chemistry are adopted by other departments at York or at other universities. It is lovely when someone says they have taken advantage of the flexible working scheme to adjust their hours to suit family or health needs or when we have formally changed the working hours to give someone a better work-life balance. Since I started, many of the initiatives we introduced are now seen as routine and standard, and it is only when staff talk to colleagues in other institutions or departments that they realise we are a little different.
“The best advice I can give to other departments is that you have to keep re-enforcing the messages and reminding people about the different issues and opportunities. Keep checking that the basics are working well. It is very easy to get side-tracked and concentrate on a particular issue and then realise that you have fallen behind again in another area–you have to keep the momentum up across the board. You also can't do it alone, you need support from a range of different colleagues and you need those at the top to believe in what you are doing and practice it. For example, the current Head of Department Professor Duncan Bruce is an active member of our Equality and Diversity Group. I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by some excellent colleagues; it is very much a team effort with everyone playing their part.”
This piece also featured in the October edition of Voice magazine.
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