Working with the women of Warwick

Meet Anne Wilson - Head of Careers in our Student Opportunity team and a winner of Warwick's 2023 Gender Equality Awards. Anne advocates for, champions and encourages women in the workplace, by raising their self-confidence, giving them a voice and introducing them to a network of support that enables them to grow and reach their goals.

Through the Springboard programmeLink opens in a new window, Anne shares key skills, useful literature, tips and advice to improve all aspects of life, not just in the workplace. And, through her work organising 'Inspiring Women' events at Warwick, she's given a spotlight to the services, groups and networks available at the University that can support women to achieve their goals.

Tell us about your award-winning work...

Anne: "I’ve been an advocate of women’s equality for many years, involved in committees and working groups. However, for me there’s no substitute for direct engagement with the people you want to see succeed. That's why I became a licensed trainer for Springboard: a four-day personal development programme designed for women from all backgrounds, ages and stages of their lives. It helps women to enhance their skills and abilities, challenge power and equality while building confidence, assertiveness and a positive outlook.

At Warwick we’ve worked with Professional Services staff at grades 3-5 to support their career development within Education Group and Faculties. We hope to open up to more staff in the future."

The judges of the Gender Equality Awards said:

"This is an excellent ongoing programme from Anne, which clearly has great benefits for staff and is making a substantial and fundamental difference to career progression possibilities for women at Warwick. We know this is a gap in development offer here at Warwick, and this programme is addressing that, and very successfully too. The sustained impact since 2020, of specific interventions across the institution, has been backed up with strong evidence of success. This fills an important gap for supporting women here at Warwick."

The impact of Anne's work

• 94 percent of the 2020 cohorts have progressed from a grade 4 to a grade 6 role.
• In 2022, from a cohort of 20, 40 percent have progressed from a grade 4 to a grade 6, and two from grade 4 to 5.
• From the autumn 2023 cohort of 21, two have already secured internal promotions.

What would you say to staff members who are looking to get involved in gender equality work at Warwick?

Anne: "There are lots of great initiatives - for example, any female staff member can attend the ‘Inspiring Women’ events that take place each term. Female staff may also be interested in mentoring students through Warwick’s Thrive programme.

I’m someone who believes that if something needs to be done, that I should simply do it. I didn’t seek permission to set up ‘Inspiring Women.’ I pestered my previous boss to let me become a Springboard trainer- and then figured out a way to seek support to get it established. If you see a gap that needs filling and it’s not something that’s already being done, I’d encourage you to go and fill it!"

What's one thing you wish people knew about your work or its themes?

Anne: "How genuinely transformational it is. Working with a group of Warwick’s fabulous female staff who are keen to learn, eager to support and encourage each other and stretch out of their comfort zones is a powerful mix! Seeing women’s confidence grow as they progress through the programme and start to report back on successes and breakthroughs - and hearing of individual successes after the programme ends - is always great."

What's the most rewarding thing about your work?

Anne: "Without doubt, it’s the extension of the benefits of the programme to the wider Warwick community. When I mentioned to one cohort that several staff from previous programmes had made the leap from grade 4 to 6, participants asked me how they’d done it. So I asked them and shared their advice and tips.

The tips were so useful that we decided to run an ‘Inspiring Women’ session on ‘Making the move from grade 4 to 6’ and opening it up to any staff who were interested. More than 80 people attended a session which featured four Springboard graduates sharing their wisdom with the audience.

As that event had gone well, two of the four Springboard graduates created a Springboard alumni group and arranged a meet-up. So each new cohort is added to the invite list at the end of their programme, creating opportunities for further networking beyond the programme."