Loughborough UCU

Tag: Women

  • 2025 UCU Equality Groups Conferences

    The six UCU equality groups will each have a one-day hybrid conference this year. The broad conference theme will be ‘Organising against division: building inclusive workplaces, resisting reactionary politics‘.

    To register (deadline 31 Oct) please use this link, which will take you to the main equality groups conference page.

    The days of the conferences are (all from 11:00-16:00):

    The in-person venue will be UCU head office, and the online platform will be Zoom. Those joining remotely will be able to participate fully in the conference, including voting on motions and attending workshops. When registering for the event, you can select if you will attend either in-person or remotely. UCU normally reimburses the travel expenses of delegates attending in person following the conference.

    For more information, contact LUCU Equality Officer Angela Dy.

    *UCU uses the term ‘Black’ in a political sense to refer to people who are descended, through one or both parents, from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia (the middle-East to China) and Latin America. It refers to those from a visible minority who have a shared experience of oppression. The word is used to foster a sense of solidarity and empowerment.

  • CPD Course: The Menopause is a Workplace Issue

    Lboro UCU branch has organised an online CPD workshop, open to all LU staff, whether or not you are personally affected. Masters and PhD students at LU are also welcome to attend the session. The Menopause is a Workplace Issue CPD workshop will take place online on Wednesday 20th August from 12 noon – 1:30pm. Please come along and invite your colleagues (including those who may not be UCU members) to join us.

    The menopause is a part of most womens’ lives and the lives of many trans men, non binary people, and members of intersex communities and marks the end of the reproductive cycle.

    It is estimated that between 75% and 80% of menopausal women are in work in the UK. UCU believes it is imperative that workplaces have a workable, informative and robust policy in place that is fully consistent with UK legislation, and that workers who require additional support during this time are treated with understanding, dignity and respect.

    We want to build solidarity and challenge the stigma of the menopause. This course will provide a safe space to discuss experiences and perceptions of the menopause, which will often differ in relation to disability, age, race, religion, sexual orientation or marital/civil partnership status.

    The full aims of the interactive workshop are:

    • Understanding why the menopause is a workplace and a trade union issue
    • What are some of the challenges facing those with menopausal symptoms in the workplace?
    • Know why the menopause is an issue for the UCU
    • Exploring strategies to support members through the menopause in the workplace

    The taught sessions last for about 75 minutes, after which time we take 15-20 minutes to discuss the issues raised with a UCU official, depending on availability. The total time commitment will be around an hour and a half.

    Sign up to the training here and please share this link with any other staff at Lboro who may be interested in coming along – https://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/events/the-menopause-is-a-workplace-issue-loughborough/.

    Upon signing up you should receive an email including an outlook calendar invite and a link to join the session within 3 working days. If you have not received this within a week of signing up, please contact ucu@lboro.ac.uk and we will make sure it comes through.

  • International Women’s Day 2025

    When: Friday 7th March, 2-4pm

    Where: MS Teams

    Click here to download a meeting invite for your calendar, or use this link to join the meeting.

    LUCU is marking International Women’s Day with a discussion about feminist research at Loughborough. The histories of the women’s movement and the labour movement are deeply intertwined. The originally named International Working Women’s Day is at the intersection of the two, inspired by demonstrations for women’s enfranchisement and right to form our own trade unions. IWD should therefore be about more than celebrating women’s achievements or advocating for more women in leadership. As Bonnie Kreps argued, who wants a bigger slice of a ‘rotten pie’?1

    This event will begin with feminist researchers across the institution giving short insights into their current work:

    Angela Martinez Dy (Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship)

    Surya Monro (Professor of Sociology and Social Policy)

    Hilary Robinson (Professor of Feminism, Art and Theory)

    Pandora Syperek (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Institute for Creative Futures)

    Inês Varela-Silva (Senior Lecturer in Human Biology)

    Gemma Witcomb (Reader in Gendered Experiences and Wellbeing)

    This will be followed by an open forum for all attendees to discuss the current climate for feminist research, and the role of feminism within the trade union movement.

    Open to all, members and non-members, women and non-women. Join us and be part of the conversation!

    #IWD25 #breadandroses

    1. Kreps, B (1973) ‘Radical Feminism 1’ in Anne Koedt (ed.) Radical Feminism (New York: Quadrangle/ The New York Times Book Co.), pp. 234-239.

  • LUCU Equality Report: 2024 UCU Equality Conference and Local Developments 

    LUCU Equality Officer (EO), Dr Angela Martinez Dy, recently attended the 2024 UCU Equality Groups Conference at Aston University in Birmingham. This annual event comprises five conferences over three days, serving disabled members, Black members, migrant members, women members, and LGBTQ+ members.  

    Angela participated in the migrant and women’s conferences in person, whilst attending some of the Black members’ and LGBTQ+ conference online. All were offered in hybrid format. She did not attend the disabled members’ conference as she does not identify as a member of the group. 

    Overall, this valuable space enables members from these groups to openly raise and discuss important issues relevant to them and thus to the Union as a whole. We encourage LUCU members from any of these groups to consider attending. UCU National reimburses reasonable expenses for attendance. 

    Migrant Members’ Conference 

    The Migrant Members’ committee is the most recently established of the equality groups. At this conference, several crucial issues were discussed, including:  

    • the challenges of transitioning from biometric residence permits (BRP) to e-visas 
    • inviting speakers from the Global South to UCU Congress 2025 
    • UCU’s ongoing lobbying against the immigration health surcharge, which the union argues constitutes double taxation alongside National Insurance contributions 
    • HMRC’s classification of university-reimbursed visa fees as workplace benefits. 

    A panel featuring solicitor Kemi Obayelu, Dr Kamran Khan, and Dr Paul John Alegado provided valuable insights into migrant perception and contributions to UK society, challenging narratives that frame migrants as security threats and societal burdens. 

    Women’s Conference 

    Intersectionality formed the central theme of the women’s conference, featuring keynote speakers including UCU President Maxine Looby, Dr Jenny Douglas, Dr Amelia Baldwin, and Dr Victoria Showunmi. Vibrant discussion and debate following these presentations, exploring both the importance of intersectionality (and avoiding its dilution and depoliticisation) and ways to continue to address women’s marginality within interlocking structures of oppression. 

    Black Members’ Conference 

    The conference opened with a focused discussion on the ongoing review of racism within UCU itself, with President Maxine Looby sharing her experiences and initiatives as a Black woman resisting racism within the Executive. This was followed by an impactful workshop on challenging workplace racism, led by Nitin Rajyaguru and Saleem Rashid. 

    LGBTQ+ Members’ Conference 

    Angela attended portions of this conference remotely, noting particularly engaging presentations from Muwonge Gerald, Lexi Breen, and Harun Tulunay, who highlighted the continued risks to LGBTQ+ safety and the need to better incorporate international LGBTQ+ experiences into our understandings of inequality. 

    Local Developments 

    Following a handover from Kerry Featherstone in October 2024, Angela has stepped into her role as EO with great enthusiasm. A former leader of the BAME (now REACH) staff network, EDI Advisory Forum initiator and co-chair, and Strategic Architect of the LU Race Equity Strategy, as LUCU EO Angela is now part of the University’s EDI Board and contributing to the implementation of the newly approved EDI Core Plan. Key developments from the latest Board meeting include: 

    • Recruitment planning for new associate directors’ EDI roles 
    • Collaborating with Organisational Development to enhance reasonable adjustments processes 
    • Promoting the uptake and use of equality impact assessments (EIAs) across the University 

    Angela has also conducted a thorough demographic analysis (descriptive statistics only) of LUCU’s membership as of Oct 2024, looking at age, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and contract type/status data, as well as some relevant intersections. Although numbers are very small in places, patterns locally mirror expectations based on national trends. For example, local membership data suggest that higher percentages of women and BAME people hold fixed-term contracts (50% women, 11.3% BAME) as compared to permanent contracts (42% women, 5.8% BAME), and that a large majority of our members on part-time contracts are women (78%).  

    Following her analysis of these data and her attendance at the Equality Groups Conference, Angela will work with LUCU Branch Organiser Callum Salfield to conduct a series of online focus groups with LUCU Members to better understand their needs and priorities. The proposed groups include: Migrant, Black/BAME, Women and Gender Non-Conforming, LGBTQ+, Disabled, and Early Career members. If you have feedback on these plans or are interested in participating, please message Callum with the groups you wish to be included in, and/or keep an eye out in emails and future newsletters for upcoming polls for dates and times. Members are welcome to attend more than one if multiple categories apply.  

    Finally, we would like members to note that last year, our committee raised a motion calling for UCU to change the “Equality Officer” title to “Equity Officer” in line with changing terminology at Loughborough. It became clear that that the process to amend the terminology was too complex and time-consuming to be worthwhile, so we decided instead to focus on progressing work directly addressing the many equity and equality related issues instead. 

    Please message Angela to discuss this update or any equality or equity related issues.