Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day
March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of women across the world, reflect on progress made, and recognise the challenges that remain. Herts is celebrating Women’s History Month, as well as International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March, to recognise the importance of our work to support women and advance equality in the workplace and beyond. Whilst progress has been made, there is still disparity between men and women when it comes to employment options and opportunities, pay gap, childcare, gender roles, discrimination and sexual harassment.
IWD is a global campaign celebrated each year on 8 March. It is a day that celebrates the potential for ‘A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.’
Together, Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day remind us that meaningful progress requires sustained action, shared responsibility and ongoing commitment.
What’s happening at Herts?
Herts will mark both International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month with events, to raise awareness around ongoing and ‘live’ issues that affect women, both inside and outside of the workplace. Our Resources page has information on our events, plus other ways you can get involved in this important activity.
As a university, we are committed to gender equality as demonstrated in our objective to increase Senior Academic Women (grade AM1 and above) by 10% by 2025. The proportion of senior academic women has shown overall positive progress across the six-year period, rising from 44.4% in 2019/20 to 49% in 2024-25. The KPI target was to increase representation to 49.2% by 2025, and the latest figure of 49% (2024/25) indicates that the University is very close to meeting the target, with only a 0.2 percentage point gap remaining. You can find out more about our progress on all of the EDI KPIs in our Annual EDI Reports.
We are proud to hold a Silver Athena Swan institutional award from Advance HE (since 2024), recognising our sustained commitment to advancing gender and sex equality, with initiatives focused on strong leadership, career progression, and pay equity. This charter focuses on gender equality and offers a framework for universities to address inequalities such as workplace discrimination, barriers to promotion and progression, structural inequalities and social injustices that affect the experience of staff and students. The framework includes a 5-year action plan for us to continue to build on equitable practice. For more information, see our charter marks, awards and affiliations page.
Please join in the celebrations to mark the achievements of women, and celebrate our diversity, across both our staff and student communities and the wider community. Please take advantage of the resources below and attend our events to expand your understanding, awareness of barriers and ongoing support.
