What Works: Supporting Women’s Careers

Despite the existence of successful initiatives to support women’s careers, there are currently still major barriers to overcome to achieve gender equality in career progression in Higher Education. To assist in this, a review of publications from Advance HE (formerly the Leadership Foundation) was undertaken to identify effective interventions to support women’s careers and to make practical recommendations to Higher Education institutions.

This report details the findings of this review. Details of interventions highlighted as effective in supporting women’s careers are:

• Using executive search firms or ‘head hunters’ to fill senior university posts
• Promoting dedicated programmes to support women’s careers and development
• Allowing flexible working and encouraging a healthy work-life balance
• Encouraging mentoring/coaching schemes
• Providing equality training and guidance
• Supporting career development and talent management
• Motivating women
• Collecting and analysing data for research

This report describes evidence supporting each intervention, and practical recommendations for Higher Education institutions to implement each intervention.