Women-Only Leadership Programmes: An Analysis of Aurora

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.