Evaluation confirms Athena Swan’s lasting impact and value in advancing gender equality across higher education. 

The Athena Swan Charter is a significant catalyst for progress on gender equality across UK higher education, according to a new impact evaluation published today (5 August) by Advance HE.  

Commissioned in 2025 to coincide with the Charter’s 20th anniversary, the evaluation by Dr Anne Rowan and Dr Fabiana Fausto McCracken assesses Athena Swan’s ongoing effectiveness, sustainability and value for money. Drawing on quantitative as well as qualitative evidence from across the sector, the report points to the success of the Charter in driving widespread policy change, changes in processes and practices leading to cultural transformation, and sustained and measurable improvements in representation and career progression. 

Key points from the impact evaluation: 

• Athena Swan’s greatest impact is in helping reshape the systems and cultures that drive and sustain long-term gender equality progress, including by strengthening the use of data to identify inequalities and take targeted action. 
• Evidence from multiple sources shows that Athena Swan contributes to improvements in policy change, organisational capacity and cultural change, helping to embed gender equality more consistently across UK higher education. 

• Charter participation is associated with improved representation of women in senior academic roles, where Charter members have a significantly lower percentage-point gender pay gap (16 percentage-point gap) at higher salary bands than non-members (42 percentage-point gap).  

• The Charter has improved career progression for women across the research and academic pipeline, as well as for other staff groups, and stimulated broader culture change in family-friendly working and gender equality.  

• Across all institutional contexts and award levels, Athena Swan has driven measurable improvements in policies and practices, contributing to increased uptake and staff satisfaction, with higher award levels reflecting the extent to which these changes are embedded and sustained. 

• Departmental engagement has supported innovation and culture change, helping to translate institutional commitments into practical changes that improve the day-to-day experiences of staff.

Sara Mole, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at UCL and Chair of the Advance HE Athena Swan Governance Committee, said, 

“My involvement with Athena Swan began back in 2008, and over the years I have had the privilege of seeing the difference that sustained engagement can make to gender equality at all levels of an institution. Through Athena Swan, my department achieved UCL’s first Silver and Gold awards, and across the institution we have strengthened gender equality, increased the representation of women in senior roles and embedded more inclusive ways of working. 

“The findings of this evaluation resonate strongly with my own experience. They provide compelling evidence of Athena Swan’s value in creating positive change and show how strategic alignment, the sharing of evidence and good practice and fostering networks can help the sector accelerate progress towards gender equality.”  

Recommendations 

The evaluation sets out a series of recommendations that both member institutions and Advance HE could implement to sustain and strengthen the Charter’s impact on gender equality in HE, including:   

• Institutions to prioritise focused, strategic and flexible action plans, strengthen data capability (especially for intersectional analysis), and foster and engage with networks and communities of practice  
• Advance HE to provide targeted support for data capability and proportional monitoring, strengthen the focus on impact and build the evidence base on effective interventions, and support more efficient resourcing models for equality work across the sector.