WHEN's Blog
A selection of insightful pieces written by women who work across the breadth of the higher education sector
The Edit Issue 5 introduction: Welcome to Anna and Kate
Welcome to the 5th issue of The Edit. In this issue we explore how gender bias has affected women in their career journeys. We have some fascinating insights from Dr Sonia Virdee, a member of the WHEN Advisory Board, as well as from contributors from China and Italy. We also have practical career tips from Perrett Laver who ran the extremely popular career surgeries at our WHEN conference.
WHEN CEO Alice Chilver is currently on maternity leave and appointed Kate Faxen as Director of Operations and Anna Bewick as Director of Development.
The WHEN team have put together a great programme of events for 2019-20 which you can read about on the WHEN website. We are also...
Knowing your why - the most important part of starting a new business
An interview with Sneha Shah, founder and director of Curaty www.curaty.co
Curaty champions early career artists by curating intellectually engaging exhibitions of their artwork in inspiring workspaces across London, with a mission to democratise the art experience for all.
What led you to set up your own enterprise?
I studied in art school but as it was wrapping up I realised I didn’t have the platform I needed to transition my art practice into the “real world,” as most galleries require you to have years of work experience before you join in. That’s when I realised there have to be other fresh graduates like myself who struggled to...
How we sparked a new direction for our women’s network
By Kayleigh Woods Harley, the incumbent chair of the Birkbeck Astrea network.
Birkbeck Astrea is a grassroots professional development and networking initiative for professional services and administrative staff at Birkbeck, University of London who identify as women or transgender. It is run by nine facilitators from across the College, who for one year volunteer to plan and deliver six events each year.
Having established a women’s network in 2014, and being the seat of Birkbeck Gender and Sexuality (BiGS), Birkbeck is in many ways a university ahead of the gender equality curve. So it was with a sense of achievement that I attended the first forum hosted by WHEN at UCL...
Who am I supposed to be?
Written by an anonymous research manager (professional services) at a Russell Group University
Exposed
Recent controversy and focus on gender issues in the workplace, the disparity with pay between genders in addition to the new D word – diversity, has suddenly made me feel very exposed.
In academia, surrounded by a wealth of hard working and intelligent colleagues, you feel inspired but also insecure that you are not contributing enough as others. The feeling to always prove your worth never leaves your side and is a small voice that unfortunately grows as you grow too.
Just being grateful
Growing up as a woman but also tangled with an ethnic background and faith has made each of...
