Developing a theoretical framework for exploring the institutional responses to the Athena SWAN Charter in higher education institutions—A feminist institutionalist perspective

Abstract

Why does the institutional response of higher education institutions to a ‘potentially institutionally transformative’ gender equality programme such as the Athena SWAN (AS) Charter matter? If a higher education institution seeks and attains the AS award, then the institutional response would be to embed the Charter’s action plans thoroughly without resistance or variation across higher education institutional contexts? These are the initial and broader reflective questions underpinning and inspiring this article. The reality is that the Athena SWAN Charter actions and commitments are not simply installed into the technical rules and procedures of higher education institutions, resulting in the organisational and cultural change it seeks. It is argued in this article that applying a feminist institutionalist lens, which deals with the exchange between formal and informal rules, norms and practices, and the roles played by actors working with the rules – the micro-foundations of gendered institutions – will inform our understanding of how a change programme such as Athena SWAN can instil institutional change- if any change. This article details a theoretical framework, drawing from the FI perspective, which will be applied to an empirical study exploring the institutional responses of higher education institutions to the Athena SWAN process in Ireland.

What do the narratives tell us? Exploring the implementation of the Athena SWAN Ireland Charter

“…Overall, the implementation of ASIC is received positively by surveyed respondents (Rothwell and Irvine, 2022 ). However, limited research in this area in an Irish context has highlighted a dissonance between HEI staff perception of gender equality initiatives generally (O'Connor, 2020 ; Hodgins et al, 2022 ), thus highlighting the need for an empirical study as described and discussed in this article, which has been informed by literature on the role of narratives in policy program implementation and FI (O'Mullane, 2021 ).…”

“…Key institutional actors are HEI staff who are members of their institutional Athena SWAN Ireland Charter Self-Assessment Teams (SATs). This questioning is grounded in the reality that such program implementation does not happen normatively in a rational, linear manner, meaning that “the actions and commitments (of ASIC) are not simply installed into the technical rules and procedures of HEIs, resulting in the organizational and cultural change it seeks” (O'Mullane, 2021 , p. 1). ASIC implementation is facilitated by key institutional actors—HEI staff—who possess their subjective interpretations, understandings, and ideas, contributing to a complex and non-linear process of implementation (Ball, 2013 ).…”

Womens’ Career Progression in an Australian Regional University

“…The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to address the unequal representation of women and to encourage and recognize commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine ( Barnard, 2017 ). However, Athena SWAN does not foster a bottom-up approach to gender equality ( O’Mullane, 2020 ) and hence the reforms required to facilitate more women moving into leadership. Rather, as Barnard (2017) found, the old masculinist culture remained, with a focus on “fixing” early career women and therefore the commitment to gender equality was more difficult to identify.…”

Equality pledges: A novel approach to embedding EDI and promoting positive culture change in a UK university

“…Whilst these initiatives can certainly increase awareness of EDI issues and identify specific areas to focus on for each department or institution, there is not a consensus that they are always transformative. Charters like REC and Athena Swan have been criticised for creating a focus on box-ticking and ‘performative doing’ (O’Mullane, 2021), rather than necessarily leading to deep, cultural change. Even when positive interventions are implemented, the culture of an organisation can perpetuate inequalities (O’Connor, 2020).…”