Women’s Network
The Anglia Ruskin University Women’s Network has been running since the early 1990s.
It was originally set up as part of a strategy to get more women into management and
acted as a forum for women who aspired to leadership positions in the University.
Within a few years it was opened up to all women in the organisation. By 2004,
however, despite being open to all women, the network was still perceived by some as a
forum for senior women and membership had been static for some years. In mid 2004
two factors converged making it an appropriate time to review the role of the network. A
new chair for the Network was appointed, Pro Vice Chancellor Helen Valentine, and the
University had embarked on a comprehensive change programme, addressing all
aspects of the institution.
As a first step in the review, a survey was sent to all women in the university with the
twin purposes of canvassing their views on the role and functions of the Network, and
raising awareness of its existence. 195 women responded, nearly 20% of the female
employees, of whom 124 respondents were not already Network members.
Key issues addressed in the survey were:
o What should the primary focus be:
o to identify gaps between policy and practice where they impact on gender
equality and make constructive suggestions for change
o to provide opportunities to meet and discuss topical issues in HE
o to provide opportunities to socialise and make friends
o to provide a forum for sharing professional and academic concerns.
o Timing and planning of the network events
o Should a steering committee be established to run the network?
o Should network membership be open to men?
o Should there be separate but linked networks, for example for senior academic
women, women in the regional partnership, women in management roles?
The survey responses revealed that the most valued role for the Network is to identify
gaps between policy and practice but that all of the roles were valued by significant
numbers of women. Thus the work programme over the next year will attempt to
address all of these areas.
The issue of whether or not to include men in the network provoked mixed and strong
responses. 55% were in favour of the network being open to men and 40% were
against. However, non members were more likely to be in favour than were existing
members. This question elicited the most additional comments and most of those were
not in favour. For the moment, the Network remains women-only but efforts have been
made to encourage men to attend functions such as the University’s Equality and
Diversity Forum events, a series of events open to all staff, allowing in depth discussion
and learning on topical equality issues. The most recent of these focused specifically on
sex and sexuality.
Changes have been made to the Network as a result of the survey findings. A Steering
Committee has been established, comprised of seven volunteer members from amongst
academic, support and senior staff. Establishment of the committee has allowed
participation in its management from a wider range of women, and with many more
women showing interest, a certain proportion of Steering Committee membership is
expected to change year on year. Identifying and making explicit the Network’s roles
has helped the new steering committee to take a more structured approach planning the
year’s events.
Helen Valentine also chairs the University’s Equality and Diversity Group, which includes
senior managers from academic faculties and other support units. Issues raised by the
Network can thus be directly fed into this forum, and to other areas of the University as
appropriate.
The Network has also played an important role in change at the University. It provides a
forum for communicating the change agenda to women and also allows women to feed
back their views. At the Women’s Network annual conference in 2004 the theme was
“Shaping Up for Change” and women were asked to create a vision for the university in
2010. Many of the suggestions arising from this conference have already been put into
place (such as structured rotation of academic management roles) or are underway. At
the 2005 conference the theme was “Changing times: accentuate the positive”. After
discussion of the changes taking place in the University the women took part in a
workshop where they were coached on the language of change and how to use it
effectively to motivate themselves and their colleagues.
Membership of the Network has increased from 150 to over 200 (25% of Anglia Ruskin’s
female workforce) during the last year. The Network holds twice-yearly meetings on
each main campus, with an annual conference each spring. These events are
publicised in the staff journal and on the intranet, through a dedicated e-mail list, and,
perhaps most importantly, by word of mouth as women become engaged and
reinvigorated by its work.
This report appears in Measuring Progress, Meeting Challenges, Opportunity Now’s
Benchmarking Report for 2005/6, published April 2006.