A black female smiling at the camera seated with out of focus grass behind her.

Since 2021, Gender Equality Partnerships has supported 70 international partnerships to enhance gender equality in higher education systems, spanning 120 institutions in the UK and 12 other countries.

These partnerships have worked to bring about change across four key areas.

  • The prevention of violence against women and girls with a particular focus on higher and further education institutions as safe spaces for women.
  • Addressing women’s underrepresentation in higher and further education leadership.
  • Enabling access and tackling subject segregation, particularly in the area of STEM including encouraging STEM-related learning.
  • Strengthening pathways into employment for women graduates from further and higher education.

Download the report

Discover more about how the initiative is supporting positive change globally in our new report: Gender Equality Partnerships: the journey so far. 

This report covers the global reach, impact and lessons learned of Gender Equality Partnerships, and includes case studies of impactful projects around the world.

 

Launch of the Gender Equality Partnerships report

The Gender Equality Partnerships: the journey so far report was launched online on 18 July. The launch event was attended by 159 external attendees from across the world.

Launched in 2021, the Gender Equality Partnerships initiative has grown from just five partnerships between the UK and three other countries to a thriving global network of 70 collaborative projects, spanning 120 institutions and 12 countries. The report developed by Gender Advisor Sharon Elliott reflects on the three-year’ journey of the Gender Equality Partnerships grants that support higher education and TVET providers in the UK and around the world to develop equitable, collaborative partnerships that address specific gender equality priorities. 

Maddalaine Ansell, Director Education, welcomed all the attendees and set the context of how the Gender Equality Partnerships grants initiative was conceived based on the Gender Equality in Higher Education: Maximising Impacts report developed by Helen Mott for the British Council. Sharon Elliot presented key highlights from her report bringing to life the range of the partnerships spread across six geographic regions. 

UK project leads Mary James Gill, Executive Director Center for Law & Justice, Pakistan, Dr Paul Igwe, Senior Lecturer in Enterprise & Strategy, University of Lincoln, UK and  Professor Hannah Bartlett, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor, Aston University, UK were invited as speakers at the session to talk about their Gender Equality Partnerships projects. They talked about the achievements and lessons learnt, sharing inspiring stories of how their projects advocated for and enabled gender equality in higher and tertiary education as well making these spaces safe for women.

A panel discussion moderated by Gillian Cowell, Head of Gender engaged the three UK project leads, and Sharon Elliott to exploring the gender context in higher and tertiary education spaces, the role of higher education institutions addressing the gender gap and the power of institutional partnership to accelerate progress in gender equity. 

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