Water Woman Award Initiative : Allyship

This is a water@leeds Water Woman Award Initiative open to all male water@leeds colleagues (University of Leeds staff only). It stems from the water@leeds team being asked by male colleagues how they could work towards positively impacting the workplace experience of their female colleagues.

To contribute to this initiative, we invite you to write a short anonymous article (800 words maximum) where you: 1) reflect on your own experience of working alongside female colleagues, and 2) use your experience to help inform positive suggestions for how men can act as allies to women in Higher Education.

This initiative is inspired by Chris Boardman’s Guardian article in which Boardman, a former English racing cyclist, writes about how men can best serve as allies in the context of women exercising safely. In the article, he gives a number of valuable tips to other men.

You are invited to write your reflection in the style of Boardman, reflecting on your own assumptions and providing suggestions for other male colleagues on how you think men can improve their allyship towards women in Higher Education.

Topics:

Topics for your essay could include (but are not limited to):  · Barriers to women in the workplace · Sharing the burden of responsibility · Equal opportunities for career progression · Feeling uncomfortable in the workplace.

All essays will receive anonymous feedback from a Water Woman and essays and feedback will be shared anonymously to foster a collective reflection. A composite of reflections will be published and used to feed into good practice for male allyship in Higher Education.

How to take part:

If you would like to participate in this voluntary activity, please submit an Expression of Interest by filling in this form. Once you have submitted your EoI, we will be in touch with more guidance on how to submit your reflection.

If you have any questions about this activity, please contact: Robin Styles at R.Styles@leeds.ac.uk.