Women-Only Leadership Programmes: An Analysis of Aurora

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that women-only leadership programmes offer valuable support for women and offer a route for increasing gender balance in senior roles. This chapter expands on this research with a discussion of the philosophy, efficacy and ethics of women’s leadership programmes in HE. We introduce the leading UK HE women’s leadership development programme—Aurora—and analyse the quantitative and qualitative study data, especially regarding what study participants said about the programme and its perceived impacts, including perspectives from some of their mentors. Timing, composition, content and context were found to be especially important for engagement in Aurora. We performed a statistical assessment of the impact of Aurora using longitudinal quantitative data on various work experiences (e.g., exercising leadership) and accomplishments (e.g., gaining a promotion), partly by drawing on comparison group data (women in HE who had not engaged in Aurora). We also explore the extent to which Aurora inspired women to take action to address gender inequalities in HEIs. In general, the impact of the Aurora programme seems to have been significant and positive for those who undertook it in terms of both their experiences and objective career development outcomes.

Chapter note: Parts of the introduction and subsections on impacts, leadership and collective action draw on material published in the Barnard et al. (2021) paper in Studies in Higher Education.

Appendix 5.1: Supplementary Information on Participants Quoted

Quote id	Role	Age	Ethnicity
5a	Academic	30–34	White Scottish
5b	Professional services	30–34	White British
5c	Professional services	35–39	White British
5d	Academic	50–54	White Scottish
5e	Academic	45–49	White British
5f	Academic	45–49	White English
5g	Academic	45–49	White British
5h	Professional services	30–34	White other
5i	Academic	40–44	White British
5j	Academic	30–34	White British
5k	Academic	45–49	White other
5l	Academic	35–39	White British
5m	Academic	35–39	White British
5n	Academic	50–54	White Scottish
5o	Academic	40–44	Chinese
5p	Academic	40–44	Chinese
5q	Academic	50–54	White British
5r	Academic	50–54	White other
5s	Academic	40–44	White British
5t	Academic	45–49	White Irish
5u	Academic	50–54	White other
5v	Academic	40–44	White British
5w	Academic	45–49	White Irish
5x	Professional services	30–34	White British
5y	Academic	40–44	White other
5z	Professional services	35–39	White other
5aa	Professional services	25–29	White British
5ab	Professional services	40–44	White British
5ac	Professional services	40–44	White British
5ad	Professional services	40–44	White British
5ae	Academic	50–54	White other
5af	Professional services	35–39	White British
5ag	Academic	55–59	White British
5ah	Academic	50–54	White British
5ai	Academic	35–39	White British

1. Note Where data source is interview with a mentor, mentee demographic information is indicated; Participants may be quoted more than once