---
title: "Athena SWAN"
chunk: 1/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_SWAN"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:38:26.970905+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The Athena SWAN Charter (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme for higher education and research institutions, established in 2005 by the UK's Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE). It recognises and promotes commitment to advancing gender equality, particularly in relation to representation, career progression, and success for women. The charter is used both as a self-assessment and benchmarking tool to guide institutional change.

== Award details ==
Members (universities) who sign up to the charter are expected to apply for an Athena SWAN award, at Bronze, Silver or Gold level. Each award is valid for four years under the post-2015 rules (three years where pre-2015 rules apply).
They commit to adopting ten principles, which focus on promoting and supporting gender equality for women. These are:

We acknowledge that academia cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all.
We commit to advancing gender equality in academia, in particular, addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the absence of women from senior academic, professional and support roles.
We commit to addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines and professional and support functions. In this we recognise disciplinary differences including:
the relative underrepresentation of women in senior roles in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL)
the particularly high loss rate of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)
We commit to tackling the gender pay gap.
We commit to removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression including the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career.
We commit to addressing the negative consequences of using short-term contracts for the retention and progression of staff in academia, particularly women.
We commit to tackling the discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people.
We acknowledge that advancing gender equality demands commitment and action from all levels of the organisation and in particular active leadership from those in senior roles.
We commit to making and mainstreaming sustainable structural and cultural changes to advance gender equality, recognising that initiatives and actions that support individuals alone will not sufficiently advance equality.
All individuals have identities shaped by several different factors. We commit to considering the intersection of gender and other factors wherever possible.

The ten principles have been criticised for failing to mention collective bargaining, for failing to address unconscious bias in paying "market" rates of pay, and failing to address the sex discrimination inherent in child care rights to paid leave and the lasting negative impact this has on relative career advancement for those taking long maternity and short paternity leave. It has also been found that "there is no evidence that Athena SWAN membership and award level have any impact" on "the gender pay gap and the proportion of women in the top quartile of pay".

== History ==
The Athena SWAN charter was established in 2005 and the first awards were conferred in 2006. The initial charter set out to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) institutions of higher education and research. In 2011, the UK Chief Medical Officer made it a requirement for academic departments applying for funding from the National Institute for Health Research to hold the Athena SWAN silver award. This requirement was removed in 2020.
In May 2015 the charter was expanded to include non-STEMM departments including arts, humanities, social sciences, business, and law. Additionally, it expanded to cover additional communities including professional and support staff, technical staff, as well as transgender staff and students. The first awards to non-STEMM university departments were announced in April 2016. The new charter recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.