Goal 5: Policies, processes and practices
The following page outlines specific policies, processes and practices in support of Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equality.
Tracking women’s applications
We measure and track women’s application rate, offer and acceptance rates of entry through our dedicated Power BI application. End of cycle applications in the 2021/22 academic year across all taught programmes (undergraduate and postgraduate) from women were 113,240 – representing 58% of all our applications. This proportion remains about the same for offers and acceptances/registrations (although a slight drop to 57% for offers and slight increase of acceptances/registrations to 60%).
We make these measurements freely available on our Equality Information Report, where you can see that in the last five years, there have consistently been more undergraduate female students than male students, (figure 53).
Tracking women’s graduation rate
We have measurements for tracking women’s likelihood of completing their degrees compared to men’s, and schemes in place to close any gap. The most recent data available for our undergraduate students, which is published on Office for Students’ access and participation data dashboard, indicates that female continuation rates are 96.2% over a four-year period compared to 95.1% for males. Because females have higher continuation rates compared to males, we do not believe there is an evidence-based case for pursuing female-only schemes. Therefore, we have continued to invest in support programmes for all genders but focused on specific inter-sectional communities that women will form part of, such as being LGBTQ+, care experienced, refugees/asylum seekers, commuter, BAME and disabled.
Policy for women application and entry
We have several policies addressing women’s applications, acceptance, entry, and participation at the university. Our Access and Participation plan shows attainment is significantly higher for females than for males, and the gap has narrowed by less than 1% over the last five years, (p3). Our ‘Differences in Offer-Making for Undergraduate Degree Courses at The University of Manchester’ report shows that women make up 55% of all applications and they received 80.9% of all offers compared to the male rate of 79.8%, (p17). These pieces of evidence suggest that it is not suitable to take direct action on women’s applications as of yet; however, our monitoring of the metrics allows for support with the intention of addressing core inequalities.
Non-discrimination policies for women
We have a wide range of policies to ensure non-discrimination against women governed through our EDI leadership group, which oversees policy and strategy relating to this agenda and monitors progress towards achieving ambitious targets. In our EDI policy, we refer to our commitment of providing equality of opportunity and ensuring that our staff and students are treated fairly and are not subjected to unlawful discrimination based on sex or gender identity.
We further explain how we will not tolerate any form of unlawful discrimination, direct and/or indirect discrimination, specifically referring to women, on our Dignity at Work and Study policy, (p4). We strive for an environment in which harassment, bullying and victimisation are simply not tolerated, based on a protected characteristic (including and referring to women), (p5-6).
Non-discrimination policies for trans
We have been England’s top University for transgender quality as measured by the national charity, Stonewall. We have a Trans inclusion policy that protects our Trans staff and students from non-discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. This is a part of our high-level Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy that shows our commitment to ensure that our employees, students, and visitors are treated fairly and are not subjected to unlawful discrimination based on their protected characteristic.
The University has specific guidance for supporting LGBT+ which includes a policy, guidance, FAQ’s and dress codes to support our Trans staff and students. People and OD have also produced a ‘how to’ Guide on Supporting a Member of Staff Undergoing Gender Reassignment. We provide trans specific training resources as well as undertaking outreach activities to raise awareness of trans issues (e.g Transgender Day of Remembrance) and to ensure that trans staff and students do not suffer discrimination, harassment or victimisation.
Our interactive map shows a list of our universal/all gender toilet provisions on campus.
Policies protecting those reporting discrimination
We have a comprehensive set of policies to ensure any allegation of discrimination from educational or employment disadvantage. Section 3.9 of our Grievance, Appeals and Complaints policy states that ‘Provided that a grievance is brought in good faith, a complainant should not suffer any victimisation or reprisals as a result of bringing the grievance if the grievance is not upheld’, (p2).
Our Dignity at Work and Study policy, states that ‘Where a complaint is made about someone, the University will consider what action is appropriate to deal with the situation and to protect the complainant and anyone else involved’, (p3).
Maternity and paternity policies
We have extensive, sector-leading parental leave policies that support our staff’s participation in the workplace. Alongside maternity and paternity leave policies, we also offer policies to support adoption, career breaks, special leave, and offer staff networks for parents and carers to support one another across the University.
Our strength in this area is further evidenced by our charter mark with the nationally accredited AthenaSwan. This has ensured our policies support parents to balance work and family life, provide flexibility during the first year following birth, and support women’s participation and return to the workplace. Our maternity support toolkit shows resources for before, during and after maternity leave that supports women’s participation in the workplace.
Childcare facilities
We have accessible childcare facilities for students which allows recent mothers to attend university courses. We have two campus nurseries that offer subsidised accessible childcare facilities for students. These facilities and support allow recent mothers to attend university courses. Students who are parents can also apply for Nursery Subsidies advertised on the Student Support website, paid to the nursery by us, if they fulfil certain criteria or struggle to meet the fee due to low household income. We have certain childcare facilities around campus, and our Student’s Union website highlights these, along with providing advice and events to support student parents.
We have childcare facilities for staff and faculty. We are a family-friendly university and try to support all parents who balance work and family responsibilities. To support our staff members, we have two campus nurseries that offer subsidised/tax-free accessible childcare facilities for all staff. The Workplace Nursery Scheme lets parents pay the full nursery costs directly from their gross income (pay before tax and NI) instead of part of their salary, so they only then pay tax and NI on their salary after the childcare vouchers/fees have been deducted – saving hundreds of pounds a year. The university’s StaffNet website provides support and guides parents to various government schemes for tax-free, or free hours of, childcare costs.
Women’s access schemes
We provide several women’s access schemes, including mentoring, scholarships and other provisions. As part of achieving the Athena SWAN Gender Charter, we have developed programmes such as Women into Leadership to address under-representation of women in senior staff positions within our university. For improved women’s access among students, we provide scholarships, such as our ‘Exceptional Women in Engineering’ PhD scholarship aimed at tackling male over-representation in this subject area. Examples of other targeted support for female staff and students include family-friendly and flexible working provisions.
We encourage applications by women in subjects where they are underrepresented through university outreach, funding and collaboration with other universities, community groups, government or NGOs in regional or national campaigns. We’ve collaborated with British Council producing a programme and scholarships that aims to encourage more females in STEM. Our academics have set up Women in Environmental Science – a collaborative network that promotes and encourages access to lifelong learning for women who are returning to education, as well as using outreach and mentoring to initiate a new generation of informed environmental science advocates, activists and practitioners.
Women’s mentoring schemes
The University has many mentoring schemes in place for our students. Together as a proportion of all female students, these easily engage more than 10% of our female cohorts. Examples of our mentoring schemes include Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), Peer Mentoring and Peer Support – which run across all undergraduate years and faculties. We also have many student-led societies and mentoring schemes, such as SU Buddy schemes as well as exclusive societies for women: Women in Business, Women in Science and Engineering, and Women in Medicine. Within these societies, many female students receive or provide tailored mentoring – depending on their academic year. The combination of all of our mentoring schemes, both exclusive to females and not, leads to at least 10% of our female students participating in mentoring either through receiving or providing mentoring support.