Pride progress

Welcome to our LGBT+ staff page

Royal Holloway is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, dedicated to creating a workplace where LGBT+ staff can be themselves and reach their full potential. Stonewall is a UK-based LGBT+ rights charity which campaigns for the equality of all who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or any other minoritised sexuality or gender identity. Its key priorities are:

To empower individuals
To transform institutions
To change hearts and minds
To change laws

The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index is a benchmarking tool for employers to measure their progress on LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace. Employers who participate in this scheme are required to demonstrate their work in eight key areas of employment policy and practice. All staff across the organisation are also asked to complete an anonymous survey about their experience of LGBT+ inclusion at work.

Royal Holloway is rising in the Stonewall Equality Index scale with each submission, and is now ranked 200th out of 503 organisations who participated in the 2020 index, and 29^th of 54 Education Sector entrants (which includes Further and Higher Education Institutions). This reflects a rise of 74 places when compared to our previous rating, when we were 274 out of 430.

Feedback from Stonewall on the application suggested that the College was doing well in a number of areas, including having a proactive LGBT+ Staff Network, developing more inclusive policies and guidance, and focusing more on offering a wider and more in-depth programme of equality training. The College was also commended for developing a well thought-out allies initiative.

Despite our progress and achievements, we are committed to continuing to work hard to make things better. In the 2020 survey, 76% of LGBT+ participants agreed that they feel able to be themselves at work, with only 56% of colleagues who identify as bisexual agreeing. We have actions in place to address this, including:

Introducing new core EDI training and additional bitesize videos on topics relating to different sexualities and gender identities.
Disseminating relevant policies and guidance, especially around trans awareness (see below).
Having Bi and Trans reps in our LGBT+ Staff Network.
Offering Active Bystander training sessions to managers at the College.
Introducing new Progress lanyards for all staff.

Further key issues we are focusing on include: developing robust reporting process for bullying and harassment; engaging in initiatives which are representative of the diversity of the LGBT+ community; and profiling role models from the LGBT+ community at Royal Holloway.

LGBT+ Staff Network

Follow this link to find out more about the LGBT+ Staff Network, or email LGBT.staff@rhul.ac.uk

Policies and Guidance

College policies - Royal Holloway has developed a Dignity at Work: Anti-Bullying & Harassment Policy, which aims to explain the College Grievance Policy & Procedure and support and empower staff to make appropriate complaints against bullying, harassment, victimisation and discrimination in the workplace. We are also developing a Transitioning at Work Policy.
General good practice guides:
- Coming Out @ Work Guide – a step-by-step, evidence-based introduction to the coming out process in the workplace. This was prepared by our LGBT+ Staff Network.
- How To Be An LGBT+ Ally

Trans Awareness

Trans is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. There are many different gender identities that fall under the trans umbrella, including binary identities (i.e. trans man or woman), and non-binary identities (e.g. agender, genderfluid, genderqueer). Gender is a spectrum which includes man and woman, but lots of other variants and intersections in between and separate from these labels. Gender is distinct from sexuality, so a person can be heterosexual and trans.

Royal Holloway has developed a suite of actions to promote awareness of trans issues and provide support for trans colleagues and students. This includes:

The EDI Team can also offer face-to-face or virtual trans awareness workshops to staff to complement the documentation and guidance we have developed. Please email equality@rhul.ac.uk for more information.