General information | Widening participation | Gender | Race and ethnicity | Accessibility | Education | Data and statistics | Athena SWAN | LGBTQ+
Browse resources about equality, diversity and inclusion from a range of sources, focusing particularly on gender equality and women in STEM.
Relevant organisations and websites
WISE Campaign – WISE is a community interest company offering support services to organisations seeking to improve their gender balance, including the engagement and advancement of women.
American Association of University Women (AAUW) – Promoting equity and education for women and girls.
Women in STEM Knowledge Center – An online professional community featuring shared resources and collaborative spaces to advance women in STEM.
ScienceGrrl – A grassroots organisation celebrating and supporting women in science.
Women in Coastal Geoscience & Engineering – A network of women working in coastal geoscience and engineering across academia, industry and Government.
GenPORT – A community-sourced internet portal for sharing knowledge and inspiring collaborative action on gender and science.
The Fawcett Society – The UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home and in public life.
Government Equalities Office – Leads work on policy relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality.
National Alliance of Women’s Organisations (NAWO) – An umbrella organisation for over 100 organisations and individuals based in England. All members are concerned with ensuring women's access to their human rights, and to make equality between women and men a reality.
Women Returners – A consultancy, coaching and networking organisation that focuses exclusively on enabling talented professionals to return to work after an extended career break.
Daphne Jackson Trust – Offers STEM professionals the opportunity to return to research following a career break of two years or more when taken for family, caring or health reasons.
Women’s Business Council (WBC) – A Government-backed, business-led council with the aim of facilitating real action to maximise women’s contribution to economic growth.
STEMettes – An award-winning social enterprise working across the UK and Ireland to inspire young women and support them in pursuing STEM careers.
POWERful Women – POWERful Women (PfW) is a professional initiative to advance gender diversity within the energy sector.
British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) – Promotes the necessity of education for women and girls globally and supports a number of initiatives overseas. It provides funding for PhD students in their third year at British institutions.
Pride in STEM – A charitable trust run by an independent group of LGBT+ scientists and engineers from around the world. Showcasing and supporting all LGBT+ people in STEM fields.
Resources and articles of interest
Data Illuminate a Mountain of Molehills Facing Women Scientists – Julia Rosen: From the peer-review process to our very concept of what it means to be brilliant, studies show that women face subtle biases and structural barriers to success in the geosciences.
Journals invite too few women to referee – Jory Lerback and Brooks Hanson present an analysis that reveals evidence of gender bias in peer review for scholarly publications.
Gender differences in recommendation letters for postdoctoral fellowships in geoscience – Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 805–808 (2016), Kuheli Dutt, Danielle L. Pfaff, Ariel F. Bernstein, Joseph S. Dillard and Caryn J. Block.
Working Toward Gender Parity in the Geosciences – How are women represented in the geosciences? Mary Anne Holmes, a University of Nebraska professor of practice, geosciences/sedimentology and women in geosciences, and the author of Women in the Geosciences: Practical, Positive Practices Toward Parity, answers some questions.
Understanding current causes of women’s underrepresentation in science – PNAS, vol. 108, no. 8 (2011), 3157–3162, Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams.
Diversification of a University Faculty: Observations on Hiring Women Faculty in the Schools of Science and Engineering at MIT – MIT Faculty Newsletter, Nancy Hopkins.
Expanded networks, faculty mentorship bolster female undergrads' pursuit of geoscience – Science Daily.
Untapped Reserves: Promoting Gender Balance in Oil and Gas – A collaboration between the World Petroleum Council and the Boston Consulting Group, providing a comprehensive baseline on gender balance within the industry today.
Gender in the Global Research Landscape – Elsevier's comprehensive report on research performance through a gender lens, Gender in the Global Research Landscape, spans 20 years, 12 geographies and 27 disciplines. This global study draws upon data and analytics, a unique gender disambiguation methodology, and involvement of global experts.
An academic mother’s wish list: 12 things universities need – There are many ways to create an inclusive workplace, say Julia Leventon, Katy Roelich and Lucie Middlemiss.
Steps to improve gender diversity in coastal geoscience and engineering – Palgrave Communications, 4:103 (2018), Ana Vila-Concejo et al.
A Manual for Gender Audit Facilitators – This manual has been developed by the International Labour Organization primarily to guide and assist facilitators conducting PGAs, which can be adapted to suit a wide variety of organisations.
Beyond bias and barriers – Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering in The National Academies Press.
Leadership that Supports the Progression of Women - A Practical Guide – This guide has been designed for leaders and managers in organisations which wish to progress more women through their pipeline into senior roles.
Closing the STEM Gap – A Microsoft report on why STEM classes and careers still lack girls, and what we can do about it.
Advancing Women in Mathematics: Good Practice in UK University Departments – This report from the London Mathematical Society has three main elements: an overview of quantitative data relating to men and women mathematicians in UK higher education institutions; a summary of the working practices of mathematics departments; and case studies of a number of women mathematicians working in UK HEIs.
The Power of Parity: Advancing Women's Equality in the United Kingdom – This report from the McKinsey Global Institute explores the economic potential of narrowing gender gaps at the national level as well as across UK regions. It also examines the opportunity to address gender disparities within various occupations and sectors of the economy.
The recruitment and retention of transgender staff – This guide from the Government Equalities Office, which is specifically aimed at employers, is designed to help employers recruit and retain transgender employees. It is also a useful guide for the managers of trans staff and for trans staff themselves.
Gender Equality: Why corporate initiatives fail (and what to do about it) – This research from the White Water Group draws on 15 years of experience in coaching senior women and consulting on gender diversity to analyse why efforts towards gender equality don’t produce the expected results, and what to do instead.
Women in scientific careers – House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
Boys to Men: The underachievement of young men in higher education – and how to start tackling it – This report from the Higher Education Policy Institute looks at how young men are significantly less likely to enter higher education than young women, and are also more likely to drop out and less likely to achieve a highly-graded degree. Looking at the data and the causes, the report then makes seven specific policy recommendations.
Ten Simple Rules to Achieve Conference Speaker Gender Balance – Jennifer L. Martin in PLOS Computational Biology.
The leaking pipeline: Where are our female leaders? 79 women share their stories – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 2008.
Tapping All Our Talents Review 2018: Women in STEM – This report from the Royal Society of Edinburgh considers what has, and has not, changed for women working in STEM in Scotland today, and it makes recommendations for addressing the under-representation of women in STEM.
Menopause and the Workplace – a report, produced by the Fawcett Society, looking into women’s experiences based on the largest representative survey of menopausal women conducted in the UK. The report highlights the implications of menopause and what’s needed to remedy this so that workplaces don’t lose out.
Menstruation in the field – article aimed at those wishing to learn more about how leaders can better support their teams whilst undertaking fieldwork.