Gender Equality
We value the unique differences and needs that each of our colleagues bring to work every day. Together, we will strive to build an inclusive institution that reflects society.
Gender Equality Initiatives
Bristol Women's Mentoring Network
The Bristol Women's Mentoring Network offers support to women at a career stage where they may be exploring their career options and deciding their next steps.
WHEN - Women's Higher Education Network
The University of Bristol is a partner of WHEN, the Women's Higher Education Network. WHEN is the UK's first network for all women who work in the Higher Education sector. WHEN's forum reaches across the entire sector and includes a directory, online community, and mentoring programme.
Bristol Women in Business Charter
The University of Bristol is a signatory of the Bristol Women in Business Charter. The Charter requires signatories to commit to making progress towards one or more of the goals of the Charter.
A commitment to gender equality is fundamental to our University’s core values, ensuring our success as a high-performing global civic institution with a positive and supportive culture, where all staff and students feel empowered and respected. We are committed to dealing swiftly and effectively with any form of harassment, bullying or discrimination, to eliminating the professorial gender pay gap, and to mainstreaming gender equality into all our practices.
Athena Swan Charter
We are a founder member of the Athena Swan Charter and currently hold 19 awards.
Swan Implementation Group
The role of the Swan Implementation Group is to raise awareness of gender equality issues (for all staff), help develop solutions, oversee the institutional Athena Swan action plan and advise EDI SMIG on gender-inclusive strategies and highlight inequalities.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
We are using an evidence-based approach to understand the reasons for our gender pay gap and we are working with our staff and unions to reduce this. We are also committed to ensuring equal pay for all our employees and to conducting Equal Pay Audits on a regular basis.
Professorial Gender Pay Gap
To better understand this, we established the Professorial Gender Pay Gap Steering Group in May 2017 as part of our University strategy action plan. The first step was to gather and analyse our data in more detail before committing to further interventions. We commissioned Dr Alison Parken, a Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff University and a leading expert in this field, to carry out this initial work and capture her findings in a report, including recommendations for closing the gender pay gap.
Annual Reporting
We publish a detailed report each year which statistically captures our gender and ethnicity pay gaps, identifies the key issues affecting our population and outlines the work we have been doing, and plan to do, to close the gap.
Female Leadership Initiative
The Female Leadership Initiative is an internally-run leadership development programme. Its aim is to support those who identify as women, to develop their sense of personal agency and impact and build strong networks to support their development and career progression.
Returning Carers' Scheme
The Returning Carers' Scheme is a funding award available to academic staff across all faculties. You can apply for an award to help re-establish your research after you have returned from extended leave due to parental or caring responsibilities.
