International Women’s Day: Accelerate Action with UON’s Senior Leadership Team

To mark International Women’s Day (8 March), the University of Northampton is proudly spotlighting some of its inspirational female leaders, and sharing their insights, advice and visions for the future.

The theme of International Women’s Day 2025 was ‘Accelerate Action’, focusing on the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum in addressing the barriers and biases that women face, both personally and professionally.

As a university committed to fostering gender equality and empowering future leaders, Northampton is proud to showcase members of its united team of female leaders who have used their knowledge and experience to drive positive change around the University and beyond.

Throughout this week, the University of Northampton will be using International Women’s Day as a springboard to share messages of hope, reflection and visions for the future from its female leaders across UON social media channels.

Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Becky Bradshaw

“Starting in an entry level administrative role, my leadership journey developed within professional services with positions in Student Administration, Human Resources, Health, Safety & Risk, Environment & Sustainability, and Campus Services, with my last position as the Executive Director of Estates & Campus Services. Throughout this time, I have been committed to personal and professional development, and I am grateful to have had experiences and opportunities which gave me insight into the operational and strategic aspects of university leadership.

“Like many women in leadership, I have experienced challenges with confidence and self-perception, with moments plagued by imposter syndrome. I have worked hard to overcome this by focusing on my expertise, experience, and the value I bring to my role, recognising that my non-traditional educational background and path to leadership is actually a strength and not a negative.

“Higher Education is a male-dominated sector, and its leadership still has systemic challenges, even in a university with a strong female presence. I have had plenty of occasions throughout my career where I have had to assert my voice in leadership spaces and challenge outdated perspectives. I should add though, that I have had the privilege of working with great male mentors, colleagues and leaders who have provided support, acted as a cheer leader on my leadership journey, and stood firm against the sexist and misogynistic behaviour I sometimes experienced. We need more people like this.

“There is still a great deal of gender bias and stereotypes when it comes to female leadership. Women leaders can be seen as too assertive or too soft, depending on their leadership style, and navigating this means finding a leadership style or approach that’s authentic.

“While progress has certainly been made (look no further than UON!), there is still an imbalance in female representation in higher education leadership. Institutional initiatives seek to address this, but individuals can also navigate this by seeking mentors, sponsors, and networks. We have an active Women’s network and recently launched mentorship scheme, alongside female development programmes such as Springboard which can support colleagues in identifying how they can navigate this challenge.

“When reflecting on my journey to date and the advice I would offer to women seeking to progress through leadership, I would suggest the following:

• Be Authentic. Leadership doesn’t follow one set path. Your background, experiences, and challenges add value to your leadership style, they do not detract from them.
• Seek Mentorship and Sponsorship. Find mentors who can guide you and sponsors who will advocate for you in leadership spaces.
• Develop Strategic Awareness. Understand the bigger picture – how decisions are made at senior levels and how your role contributes to this.
• Be Visible and Vocal. Speak up in meetings, volunteer for strategic projects, and ensure your contributions are recognised.
• Prioritise Personal and Professional Development. With everything else that life has to throw at us, it can be easy to deprioritise development, but this keeps you adaptable and future-focused, it’s also enjoyable when you find a subject that excites you.

Pro Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) Alice Wilby

“I started working in Higher Education immediately after graduation, because I found university a huge culture shock, and – naively – thought that if I worked in my undergraduate institution I could change it, so I spent the first part of my career working in widening participation.

“I have worked in a Director role at Oxford Brookes looking after widening participation and student recruitment, and from there became a Pro Vice-Chancellor at University College Birmingham. For the last year before I arrived at Northampton I have been doing freelance consultancy for a range of universities. All my postgraduate academic study has been part time, alongside these roles – so it’s been an eclectic and largely unplanned journey to get here!

“Throughout my career, I think class, age and sexuality (and not to mention personality) have all interacted with gender, so it’s hard to isolate challenges that I’ve felt as a woman specifically. I’ve certainly spent a lot of time reflecting on the ‘right’ balance between being authentically myself and fitting in with people’s expectations. Like most women in a leadership role, I could tell some stories about inappropriate things people have done and said, some of which relate to gender. As I have had more experience, I’ve got more used to taking up space, speaking up and challenging behaviours.

“Since joining UON nearly five weeks ago, the one thing that has been really clear since I first visited Northampton is how authentically the university upholds and celebrates inclusivity. I’m sure that’s a product of Anne-Marie’s leadership, and it may also be a consequence of the predominantly female senior leadership team.

“In the UK there are big systemic challenges, particularly relating to unequal maternity, parenting and caring rights and perceived responsibilities. These manifest in the gender pay gap, and in the concentration of women in particular types and levels of roles. There is also a widespread societal view of what a leader looks like which tends towards a particular kind of straight, white man, and some presumed behaviours that go with it. I think that is changing, but not quickly enough, and not evenly across society. It’s not for women alone to navigate any of that: it’s everyone’s problem.

“Internationally there are many locations where the situation for women in the workplace is far more challenging. Again, women alone cannot solve that (and shouldn’t be expected to), but from our relatively privileged position in the UK we can advocate for change.

“For advice to fellow women seeking to pursue leadership roles, I’d say:

• Build networks, both for advice and insights, and for support when things are difficult.
• Share power – especially with people who are different from you – and don’t kick the ladder away once you’ve climbed it.
• Look beyond the immediate next step to the possible things you could do in a few years, but try not to get too stuck to the idea of one path.
• There isn’t one way to ‘do’ leadership, though there are definitely less helpful ways..!

“It’s worth noting, I’d also give the same advice to men, and would argue that if both men and women received the same advice on career progression, we’d have far more equal workplaces.”

Director of Finance and Planning Janet Bains

“Joining the University nearly 24 years ago as a Finance Project Manager, my journey to my current leadership role has been a gradual transition, each new role I secured brought additional responsibility and more strategic focus providing me with the experience, vision and confidence to take on my leadership role at the University.

“I feel incredibly privileged to be part of the senior leadership team at the University, the change to a predominantly female leadership team has created a very collaborative, hardworking and empathetic leadership style.  There is a huge focus within the senior leadership team on inclusion and diversity to drive innovation, with a real commitment to transparency, placing great importance on building a culture of trust across the University.

“International Women’s Day is a wonderful celebration of the achievements and contributions made by women globally to society.  It is an opportunity to empower and encourage woman not to settle for ‘okay but to strive for greatness’.  It allows us to reflect on the fundamental change that women have experienced since the previous century while recognising there is still such a long way to go achieve gender equality globally.”