Athena Swan within the School of Nursing and Midwifery

Championing and supporting a culture of participation and inclusivity
Athena Swan within the School of Nursing and Midwifery
The Athena Swan Charter is a national initiative that recognises commitment to advancing women's representation, and tackling gender inequality in higher education and research. Originally designed to target improvement for women within science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects and senior positions, it has now been extended to include arts, humanities, social science, business and law (AHSSBL), as well as professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. As part of its commitment to Equality and Diversity, the University of Plymouth is a founder member of the charter. 
The School of Nursing and Midwifery aims to champion and support a culture of participation and inclusivity, and to communicate and raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion. Our Athena Swan Self Assessment (SAT) Team discusses, implements, promotes and monitors school level actions aimed at improving the working and learning environment for academics, professional services staff and students.
The School of Nursing and Midwifery achieved Bronze Athena Swan status in August 2018 after an intensive self-assessment by our Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team (SAT) led by Dr Ali James. Achieving Bronze status is only the beginning of the journey and the SAT have been working on their action plan to deliver improved gender equity across the school. 
The 2018 application was commended for the good use of survey and benchmarking data throughout the submission in recognising areas for improvement and planning actions accordingly. View the submission and action plan.
If you would like to know more about Athena Swan work in the School of Nursing and Midwifery email the current SAT chair, Heather Hopper.
Athena SWAN Bronze Award

Why we need more men to become nurses

If someone asks you to picture a doctor, it’s likely you’ll picture a man. If someone asks you to picture a nurse, it’s more likely you’ll picture a woman.

This unconscious bias is on the way to being addressed on the medical front as female medical student numbers have escalated in recent years – with women now accounting for over half of medical professionals at a training grade. Yet the amount of men training to become nurses has plateaued for decades at between 8–11%.

Adult Nursing lecturer Kevin Hambridge explains his personal and professional experience of combating the stereotype.

Should male former soldiers consider a nursing career?

“We are trying really hard to bridge the gap and explain it is not just a job for women. Men can care just as well as women can.”

In the past few years, great effort has been made to encourage women to take more roles in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. But our aim is to increase the number of male nurses, to greater reflect the patient population and continue to meet their needs.

Former Royal Engineer and University Lecturer Danny shares his insight

<p> </p><div>Truro School of Nursing – Nursing Open Day</div> <br><p></p>
<p>Daniel Clarke</p>
<p>Nursing</p>

More EDI resources from the University of Plymouth

Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team

Athena SWAN student representative

Our student representative is Elena Hancock
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