Case Study: Women Returners - University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow has developed the Gender Action Project (GAP) to support female academic and research staff in their career progression The University recognises that barriers exist to female academic career progression and has highlighted maternity breaks as a contributing factor to women’s disadvantage in the academic structure.

To address this, the University planned a number of initiatives in consultation with stakeholders, including:

• Developing a Women’s Network for academic and research staff, including tailored workshops and training sessions, talks and discussions given by staff. The Network will feed back into University management through the Gender Champion.
• Developing a Maternity Mentoring Scheme for academic and research staff returning from maternity leave
• Developing a website drawing together information on University policies, work-life balance, childcare and women’s career progression
• Developing a self-appraisal toolkit for women to reassess their skills prior to returning to work.

These initiatives will be piloted before being mainstreamed throughout the University.

The Women’s Network was launched last autumn with an event attracting 60 women to hear an external speaker on equal pay. Since then, over 100 female academic and research staff have joined the Network. Other workshops/events have covered:

• Presentation skills
• Negotiation skills
• Networking skills
• Mind mapping
• Care and your career – balancing work and family
• Career planning
• Work/life balance

The Maternity Mentoring Scheme has recruited and trained five mentors from different academic disciplines. This included planning the cycle of the scheme, recruiting mentors, assessing suitability, and developing and delivering the mentor training.

The GAP website has been written, designed and launched It includes sections on maternity/paternity, work/life balance, career progression, childcare, women’s network, maternity mentoring, employee’s rights and research. The self-appraisal toolkit is in development and will be piloted over the next few months.