Enabling equitable cultures: experiences of female staff

This page contains a collection of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) resources with relevance to curricula in HE geography. These resources were collated as part of the project Enabling equitable cultures of knowledge and practice in physical geography and environmental sciences, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).  

This page is dynamic; if you know of other relevant resources or wish to submit your own case study, we’d like to hear from you at rhed@rgs.org 

The Society does not accept responsibility for the content of the external sites. Inclusion on this list does not equate to an endorsement of any content or organisation. Please contact the external site for questions regarding individual resources. 

 

Guidance and toolkits 

Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Respect in Business and Management Higher Education Institutions  

British Academy of Management (UK)  

The purpose of this research project is to build knowledge and understanding, and to propose best practice and policy recommendations for effectively addressing issues related to equality and diversity, inclusion and respect (EDIR) in HE business and management schools. The project will incorporate a state-of-the-art literature review, secondary HESA data analysis, and ethnographic data collection and analysis. 

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Career trajectories in UK departments of Politics and International Relations 

British International Studies Association (UK)   

These reflections provide an indication of where BISA as a professional association has a duty to work closely with other allied associations to foreground the EDI agenda in its activities, and to champion the needs of membership and their academic departments in several areas. 

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Where are we losing talent?

In this report, a team of Danish researcher mapped the gender distribution among students and employees at Geocenter Denmark. In addition, they have mapped the career paths of former and current researchers and collected and analysed data relating to scientifc publications and funding applications. Here, they summarise their main findings and make recommendations for future actions. The English language summary starts on page 11. 

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APPG Diversity and Inclusion in STEM, Inquiry in Equity in STEM Education: Final Report 

British Science Association (UK)  

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in STEM aims to promote the inclusion and progression of people from diverse backgrounds in STEM, and to encourage government, parliamentarians, academics, businesses and other stakeholders to work towards a STEM sector that is representative of the population.  

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ASSET 2016: experiences of gender equality in STEMM academia and their intersections with ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and age 

Equality Change Unit (UK)  

ASSET 2016 provides new insight as it includes an in-depth examination of how gender differences vary across individual academic disciplines and subpopulations (eg for respondents with or without caring responsibilities). This approach and the addition of qualitative analyses allows ASSET 2016 to paint a more detailed picture of the current state of gender equality in STEMM academia. 

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Identity, behaviour and wellbeing 

ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (UK) 

This project aims to (i) understand how individual characteristics and experiences (particularly adversities and contextual factors) are associated with identity across different domains, (ii) examine patterns of identity acculturation in a multicultural society across ethnic minorities and majority, (iii) estimate the relationship between identity across different domains and mental health and wellbeing, and (iv) estimate the role of identity on labour market activities and educational attainment. 

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Changing the culture (violence against women, hate crime and harassment) 

Universities UK (UK)   

This report summarises the evidence considered by the Universities UK Taskforce to examine violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students, and makes a series of recommendations for universities and UUK. These recommendations cover both prevention activities and how universities can respond to these issues more effectively in future.   

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One year on report (2018)

Two years on report (2019)

 

Tackling online harassment and promoting online welfare 

Universities UK (UK)  

UUK, working together with the University of Bedfordshire, has developed Changing the Culture: Tackling online harassment and promoting online welfare as an extension of UUK's work to help universities tackle harassment, hate crime and gender-based violence. This guidance outlines a set of principles to support universities to prevent and respond to online harassment occurring between students. 

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#CombatMisconduct: a toolkit for vice-chancellors 

Universities UK (UK)  

Created in partnership with AVA (Against Violence and Abuse) and NUS, this toolkit supports vice-chancellors and senior leaders to tackle sexual misconduct, harassment and all forms of hate within their universities.   

Read more

 

Selected readings 

• American Geosciences Institute (2019) Participation of women in the geoscience profession. Data Brief 2019‐015, 15 November. 

• Bee, A., Madge, C. and Wellens, J. (1998) Women, gender, feminisms: visiting physical geography. Area, 30, pp. 195-196. 

• Birnie, J., Madge, C., Pain, R., Raghuram, P. and Rose, G. (2005) Working a fraction and making a fraction work: a rough guide for geographers in the academy. Area, 37, pp. 251-259. 

• Brinegar, S. (2001) Female representation in the discipline of geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 25, pp. 311-320. 

• Crang, M. (2003) Malestream geography: gender patterns among UK geography faculty. Environment and Planning A, 35, pp. 1711-1116. 

• Dowling, R. (2008) Geographies of identity: labouring in the ‘neoliberal’ university. Progress in Human Geography, 32, pp. 812-820. 

• Dumayne-Peaty, L. and Wellens, J. (1998) Gender and physical geography in the United Kingdom. Area, 30, pp. 197-205. 

• Fyfe, A., De Moortle, I. and Ashbrook, S. (2016) Academic Women Now: experiences of mid-career academic women in Scotland. https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/12224  

• Garcia-Ramon, M.D. and Pujol, H. (2004) Gender representation in academic geography in Catalonia (Spain): towards amasculinization of the discipline? Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28, pp. 111-119. 

• Klocker, N. and Drozdzewski, D. (2012) Commentary: Career Progress Relative to Opportunity: How Many Papers is a Baby ‘Worth’? Environment and Planning A44 (6). Pp. 1271–1277. 

• Maddrell, A. (2009) Complex Locations. Women’s Geographical Work in the UK 1850–1970. Oxford-Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell/RGS-IBG. 

• Maddrell, A. (2015) “To Read or Not to Read? The Politics of Overlooking Gender in the Geographical Canon.” Journal of Historical Geography, 49, pp. 31–38. 

• Maddrell, A. (2009) Complex locations. Women’s geographical work in the UK 1850–1970. Wiley-Blackwell/RGS-IBG, Oxford-Chichester. 

• Maddrell, A. (2012) Treasuring classic texts, engagement and the gender gap in the geographical canon. Dialogues in Human Geography, 3, pp. 324-327. 

• Maddrell, A., Strauss, K., Thomas, N.J. and Wyse, S. (2016) Mind the gap: gender disparities still to be addressed in UK Higher Education geography. Area, 48(1), pp. 48-56. 

• Maddrell, A., Thomas, N.J. and Wyse, S. (2019) Glass ceilings and stone floors: an intersectional approach to challenges UK geographers face across the career lifecycle. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 101:1, pp. 7-20, DOI:10.1080/04353684.2018.1555670 

• Madge, C. and Bee, A. (1999) Women, science and identity: interviews with female physical geographers. Area, 31, pp. 335-348. 

• McDowell, L. (1979) Women in British geography. Area, 11, pp. 151-154. 

• McDowell, L. (1990) Sex and power in academia. Area, 22, pp.323-332. 

• McDowell, L. (1992) Doing gender: feminism, feminists and research methods in human geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 17, pp. 399-416. 

• McDowell, L.  and Peake, L. (1990) Women in British geography revisited: or the same old story. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 14, pp. 19-30. 

• Middleton, J. and Street, E. (2017) Reflections on Parenting/Caring and Working in Geography. Forum/Discussion Session at the Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Thursday 31 August 2017. Abstract. http://conference.rgs.org/AC2017/172. 

• Monk, J., and Hanson, S. (1982) On not excluding half of the human in human geography. The Professional Geographer, 34, pp. 11–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1982.00011.x 

• Monk, J. (2000) Looking out, looking in: The ‘other’. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 24, pp. 163–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260050077463 

• Monk, J., Fortuijn, J.D. and Raleigh, C. (2004) The representation of women in academic geography:  contexts, climate and curricula. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28, pp. 83-90. 

• Ni Laoire, C. and Shelton, N.J. (2003) ‘Contracted out’: some implications of the casualization of academic labour in geography. Area, 35, pp. 92-100. 

• Pujol H, Garcia Ramon M.D. and Ortiz A. (2012) Academic careers in Spanish geography: a gender perspective. Boletín de la Asociación de Géografos Españoles, 59, pp. 323-344. (http://www.boletinage.com/articulos/59/29-PUJOL.pdf)  

• Rose, G. (1993) Feminism and geography: the limits of geographical knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN. 

 

Women in the field 

• Demery, A.J.C., Pipkin, M.A. (2021) Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 5–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01328-5 

• Fry, L.J. (2013) Gender and dangers inherent in fieldwork, Gender and Behaviour, 11(2), pp. 5474-5485(12). 

• Greene, S.E. et al. (2021) Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators, EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X53P6H. 

• Kloß ST. (2017) Sexual(ized) harassment and ethnographic fieldwork: A silenced aspect of social research, Ethnography, 18(3):396-414. doi:10.1177/1466138116641958 

• Maguire, S. (1998) Gender differences in attitudes to undergraduate fieldwork. Area, 30, pp. 207-214. 

• Nelson, R.G., Rutherford, J.N., Hinde, K. and Clancy, K.B.H. (2017) Signaling Safety: Characterizing Fieldwork Experiences and Their Implications for Career Trajectories, American Anthropologist, 119, pp. 710-722. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12929 

• Porter, B.A. and Schanzel, H.A. (2018) Femininities in the Field: Tourism and Transdisciplinary Bracken, L. J. and Mawdsley, E. (2004) ‘Muddy glee’: rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork. Area, 36, pp. 280-286. 

• Research. Bristol: Channel View Publications. 

• Rinkus, M.A., Kelly, J.R., Wright, W., Medina, L. and Dobson, T. (2018) Gendered Considerations for Safety in Conservation Fieldwork, Society & Natural Resources, 31:12, pp. 1419-1426, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2018.1471177 

• Sundberg, J. (2003) Masculinist epistemologies and the politics of fieldwork in Latin Americanist geography. The Professional Geographer, 55, pp. 181-191.