This International Women’s Day Kent’s Executive Director of People & Culture Martin Atkinson reflects on and reaffirms our commitment to gender equality for both our staff and students.
‘Our 2025 Equality Pay Gap Report shows our continued progress. Since statutory reporting began, our mean gender pay gap has fallen from 17.5% to 12.5%, now lower than the sector mean of 13.6%. Our median pay gap is 13.3%, slightly above both the national figure (13.1%) and the sector (11.5%), reflecting wider structural challenges across Higher Education. Among our peer group of 11 institutions, we continue to perform strongly, ranking lowest for mean and second lowest for median pay gaps. While progress has slowed in recent years, work is underway to understand and address the causes. Our most recent Equal Pay Audit (2022) confirmed no significant gender pay gaps by job grade.
We know that closing pay gaps requires long‑term, systemic change. As a proud institutional Athena SWAN Silver Award holder, with several Schools holding Bronze and Silver awards, we continue to deliver sustained progress through our Athena SWAN Action Plan, monitored by our institutional self-assessment team.
Removing barriers to progression remains a priority. Our Academic Career Map, refreshed Reflect, Plan, Develop (RPD) process, new Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) Sensitivity Sessions for Line Managers, and updated mandatory EDI training all support a more inclusive culture. Our coaching offer continues to grow, alongside leadership programmes such as Horizons and LASR. In 2026, we will also develop Kent’s first Menopause Action Plan, ensuring menopause is not a barrier to career success. Equality Impact Assessments and improved data availability are now embedded across our decision‑making processes and we are proud of our suite of Family Friendly policies.
Across Kent, staff continue to drive change and inspire through innovative projects and initiatives—from the Whose Menopause Matters? research project, to Women’s History and International Women’s Day events, the Women Researchers Writing Retreat, Women in STEM outreach, and EDI Cafés focused on menopause and caring responsibilities.
Our WITTS (Women in IT and Technical Services) Network was launched in 2026 and strengthens support for women in technical roles, joining our existing Women’s and WrEN (Women in Research) Networks.
We also recognise that 2025 has been a particularly challenging year for many of our transgender and non‑binary staff and students. We remain firmly committed to supporting every member of our community and Kent does not tolerate bullying, discrimination or harassment, and we will continue to build an inclusive, respectful culture in which all staff and students can thrive.
We are proud of this progress, but we know there is more to do. We remain committed to meaningful, structural action to achieve true gender equality at Kent.’