How Birkbeck College complies with the Gender Equality Plan
Birkbeck is proud of its diversity and recognises the value that this brings to College life. The College embraces and celebrates the differences between people, recognising the strengths and benefits of a diverse, inclusive society, workforce and student body.
In the spirit of our founder, George Birkbeck, the College believes that education should be available to all sections of society, providing an inclusive working and learning environment for students and staff, so that all may develop to their full potential.
The College aligns with the Horizon Europe Gender Equality Plan (GEP) requirements as follows.
Public commitment to Gender Equality
The College’s commitment to achieving gender equity has been recognised by Advance HE with the Athena SWAN bronze award being given for the third time at institutional level in October 2020.
The Athena Swan Charter was established in 2005 to support women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) and since 2015 has been used across the globe to address gender equality more broadly in non-STEMM areas, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
Advance HE members who apply for the Athena SWAN status undergo a rigorous process of assessment. For the bronze award, Birkbeck had to demonstrate a solid foundation for eliminating gender bias and developing an inclusive culture that values all staff.
The College’s Athena Swan application and action plan was signed by the Chair of the Self-Assessment Committee, Deputy-Vice Chancellor, Professor Matt Innes.
The action plan demonstrates a commitment to gender equality and set out clear gender goals, related objectives and action points.
In addition, the College’s People Strategy 2017 - 2023, signed by then Vice-Chancellor, David Latchman, includes a section on building workforce diversity that addresses gender equality, with a particular focus on having a greater number of women (and staff from minority groups) in senior roles and on influential College committees.
Resources and gender expertise to implement Gender Equality
The five-person Strategy, Policy, Equality and Diversity team's priorities include leading and supporting the delivery of key HR projects to implement the People Strategy and other College strategies and action plans; developing, reviewing and updating HR policies; supporting the embedding of equality and diversity across the College; leading and delivering people data analysis and reporting as required by statutory duties and organisational needs.
Data Collection and Monitoring of Gender Equality
The College analyses its gender data on an annual basis which feeds into reports that are used to inform the College's efforts to ensure an inclusive environment for work and study and to measure the impact of equality and inclusion initiatives. The following publications are available:
Training for Gender Equality
The Organisational Development and Change team in HR delivers a wide range of activities which support the ongoing development of a productive and healthy working climate in the College. This includes supporting staff with range of training opportunities, including mandatory training in unconscious bias and equality and diversity essentials.
Birkbeck champions staff to attend the Auroa Leadership Development Initiative. Aurora is a women-only leadership development programme run by Advance HE. It is a unique initiative bringing together leadership experts and higher education institutions to take positive action to address the under-representation of women in leadership positions in the sector. Aurora takes a collaborative approach with institutions and participants, combining education, mentoring and self-directed study via online resources.
While most leadership programmes are aimed at leaders already in the role, Aurora is designed to enable a wide range of women, in academic, professional and research roles, to engage with leadership development at an earlier stage in their careers. It aims to enable women to think of themselves as future leaders and to better understand leadership and whether they want to develop their career in this direction.
Last reviewed and approved: 3 July 2024
Date of next review: 2026
Approved by Professor Julian Swann, F.R.H.S. Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Pro Vice Chancellor Research, Birkbeck College, University of London