Goal 5: Gender Equality
Queen Mary University is committed to driving action for the SDGs through our research, education, and operations with engagement supporting all that we do.
See below for a snapshot of the activity supporting “SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals”
Research and Innovation
Addressing Persistent Gender Imbalances in UK Political Candidate Selections
In a comprehensive analysis by Dr Sofia Collignon, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Queen Mary, the screening process for the selection of parliamentary candidates has been exposed to be persistently gender imbalanced. Of 134 parliamentary selections by the Conservatives, a striking 70% are men. In contrast, Labour’s selection shows a more balanced approach, with 56% of their 206 candidates being men. Many reasons have been cited for this imbalance among the Tories, such as lack of supply of female candidates, local candidate preferences. However, Dr. Collignon’s paper argues that these explanations shift the blame onto individual women rather than addressing the structural barriers within the Conservative Party.
Dr. Collignon’s paper is a clarion call for the Conservative Party to undertake meaningful reforms if it hopes to rectify the under-representation of women among its MPs.
Queen Mary and UNFPA Joint Publication on COP Commitments to tackle Gender Injustice from Climate Change.
Climate change is an amplifier of inequalities. As the climate crisis intensifies, minority and marginalised communities get left behind, and the gap between wealthy and poor gets larger.
Climate change also has negative impacts on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. For example, we know that the climate crisis increases air pollution and heat, and this has a negative impact on maternal health during pregnancy – including links to premature births, stillbirths and other complications.
Dr Heather McMullen, Senior Lecturer in Global Public Health at Queen Mary, researches the intersection of climate change and gender. For years, she has been working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to evidence the impact of the climate crisis on the sexual and reproductive health on women and girls.
Together, in October 2024, the UNFPA and Queen Mary have published five regional reports to support the integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights into countries ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs), committed to at COP. The report assesses many countries have made commendable progress in integrating access to contraception, safe birthing, and protection for women and girls from gender-based violence into their adaptation goals but a majority still fall short.
These reports will help countries meet their commitment made at COP28 to submit their next NDCs “at least 9-12 months in advance” of COP30 in Brazil at the end of 2025.
Education
Women in STEM Scholarship
In collaboration with the British Council, the Women in STEM Scholarships offers 5 scholarships to women from the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia specifically. The award covers full overseas tuition, a contribution towards monthly maintenance allowance travel, visa and other initial costs. The scholarship screening process specifically looks for applicants who can demonstrate a plan and passion to engage other women and girls in STEM from their home country.
Women in Economics and Finance Scholarship
The Women in Economics and Finance PGT Scholarship is accessible regardless of nationality, offering 60 scholarships for overseas postgrad students. It accepted 21 for the September 2025 intake, and 18 so far for September 2026. Applicants must commit to engaging with women and girls in Economics and Finance for a total of 30 hours during their studies, through a range of avenues such as mentoring.
Operations
Gender Impact Plan
Through our engagement with Athena Swan, Queen Mary has developed a five-year Gender Impact Plan (GIP) from 2022 to 2027 that supports our institutional commitments and key performance indicators. The plan outlines our long-term vision for advancing gender equality across both staff and student experiences and how to sustain progress over the next five years. It builds on Queen Mary’s long-standing commitment to tackling gender inequalities and is designed to be ambitious, with our 2030 strategic vision in mind.
The 2025 progress update on our GIP provides a mid-point review (January 2025) of the plan’s implementation and demonstrates the positive impact made. We are proud to report that 67% of GIP actions have been achieved or are set to be achieved in line with the original timescales. We are also seeing continued high success rates for academic promotion for women, and in 2025 also for BAME staff, narrowing gender and ethnicity pay gaps. The University aims for 50:50 gender balance by 2030. As of 2025, female representation across junior, mid-level and senior staff either exceeds or puts us on track for our 2030 targets.
Athena Swan
Queen Mary became a signatory to the Athena SWAN Charter in 2005 and obtained its first Bronze award in 2008. The Charter is a framework developed for the higher education and research sectors to advance gender equality, particularly in academic and technical roles, by embedding inclusive working practices. The Charter uses a structured self-assessment approach wherein institutions such as Queen Mary can identify strengths, areas for improvement and implement targeted action plans to support these improvement goals. In 2017, the University became one of only a handful of institutions to be recognised with a Silver award, an achievement of which we are extremely proud. Across our Schools and Faculties, as well as the institution, we continue the work of embedding gender equality into all our activities and for all our staff and students.
Engagement
Springboard Women’s Development Programme
The Springboard programme is focused on personal development, encouraging women to reflect on all aspects of their life, not just their career but also personal goals. The Springboard programme recognises that women are significantly underrepresented in Higher Education leadership and that women benefit from discussing some issues in single gender groups, as women and men approach personal development in different ways. Hosted on the Queen Mary estate or online, the programme is run by an external consultant certified in counselling, coaching and mentoring. As with Aurora, participants are paired with a ‘coaching partner’ for the duration of the programme.
Accelerate Women’s Development Programme
Part of Queen Mary’s Aspire career development programme, Accelerate is a personal development programme focused on our undergraduate and postgraduate female students from all faculties and schools. It is designed specifically to address issues faced by women during the university experience, such as studying, imposter syndrome and confidence.