The UK government has unveiled a voluntary charter that aims to better support women in research by ensuring paid family leave, flexible working and tougher action on workplace harassment, for example. Liz Kendall – the UK’s science and technology secretary – is urging research organisations to sign the charter to ensure ‘that women can thrive at every stage of a research career.’ Over 60 universities and institutes have currently done so, including the Wellcome Trust, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Royal Society.
Women make up over 50% of science undergraduates. Yet, the proportion of women pursuing a career in Stem after university declines, with a 2025 report finding that women are three times less likely to have careers in R&D than men and earn less on average when they do. Women hold just 31% of professorships, with this falling to 6% for women of colour.
The new ‘Women in Research’ charter commits those that voluntarily sign the agreement to better support women throughout their research careers. This includes providing at least 52 weeks of maternity leave for doctoral students, with a full stipend for the first 26 weeks and a minimum of two weeks paid leave for partners. Other commitments include sufficient family-related leave, flexible working and accounting for career breaks, part-time working and non-linear career paths in grant and job applications.
‘These are not radical proposals, they’re hard-won rights that women in research should absolutely expect,’ says Kendall. ‘Now is the time for research institutions to step up and level the playing field for women.’
The charter will also require organisations to be more consistent and transparent with data relating to sex, salaries and institution, as well as provide ‘clear and consistent standards’ for reporting harassment.
Ale Palermo, head of global inclusion at the Royal Society of Chemistry, thinks that ‘these measures address many of the systemic barriers’ affecting women in research. ‘We strongly welcome this initiative and look forward to continuing our work with partners across the research ecosystem to ensure that women in research can thrive, progress and lead at every stage of their careers,’ she says.
Rachel Oliver – a materials scientist at the University of Cambridge, UK – thinks that the charter is ‘considerably better than nothing’. ‘[But] where I think the charter really falls down is where it’s talking about bullying and harassment,’ says Oliver. She says that women in these stressful and emotional situations are unlikely to report incidents for fear of ruining their career prospects. Oliver stresses that there needs to be ‘better opportunities… and mechanisms that allow anonymous reporting to be taken seriously and dealt with at the local level.’
She also notes that the charter ‘falls into the trap’ of focusing solely on women. ‘There’s nothing in the charter that addresses intersectionality with race, with LGBTQ+, with social class [or] anything else.’ ‘[The UK government has] not done anything about this broader range of diverse characteristics and the bigger challenges faced by women who sit at these intersections,’ she says.
‘A lot of the language [in the charter] has a lot of wriggle room in it: consider, if possible, where possible,’ says Oliver. ‘I can’t see how [the charter] is going to be enforced, or who’s going to enforce it, so at which point it becomes rather meaningless.’
No comments yet