This section provides information about the specific ways in which we are endeavouring to become even more accessible to individuals regardless of gender and gender-related issues, and also provides a general overview of the legal context and our response to the legislation.
Christ Church welcomes diversity amongst its members, staff and visitors, recognising the particular contributions to the achievement of its statutory objects that can be made by individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
Legal context
Discrimination on the grounds of the following protected characteristics is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010:
- sex – whether this is perceived, actual or associated;
- gender reassignment – which includes someone who is transgendered, or who has proposed, started or completed a process to change their sex;
- pregnancy/maternity – pregnancy refers to women who are pregnant, maternity covers a period of 26 weeks after birth; and
- marital status (including civil partnerships).
Discrimination (all types), victimisation and harassment are all prohibited.
In addition to the general definition of harassment provided in the relevant section of this website, both harassment on the grounds of sex and also harassment of a sexual nature are illegal.
The legislation allows that there may be cases where indirect sex discrimination is legal, but this is only where the indirect discrimination can be objectively justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
College Response
Under UK legislation, Christ Church has a duty to promote gender equality, and to seek to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment. In addition to these general duties, there are also a number of specific duties we have to undertake, including: to prepare and publish a gender equality scheme, to consider the causes of any gender pay gap, to assess how policies and practices affect gender equality amongst staff and students, to set out arrangements for publishing the results of impact assessments, and report against the scheme on a regular basis.
Christ Church policies and practices which are relevant are as follows:
| Staff | Students | |
| Monitoring | The gender distribution of staff is monitored by Christ Church. See Table. | The gender distribution of students is not currently monitored by Christ Church. |
| Publishing | See Table. | Christ Church does not currently publish statistics on the gender distribution of students. |
Support and Advice
Guidance on our personnel policy may be sought from the Steward or, the Sub Dean in relation to the Cathedral. Students may seek advice from the Senior Censor.
The University Equality and Diversity Unit (DEO) provides a network of harassment advisers and is also responsible for updating the Code of Practice on Harassment.
The University also provides training in best practice for those involved in the admissions process, recruitment and selection, management and teaching.
Links to information about the University's nursery and childminding provision, advice on staff and student funding, and application forms are available from the relevant section of the University website.
Further information
The University website contains useful links to relevant legislation, as well as providing details of the ways in which the University has sought to fulfil its commitments to promoting gender equality (including its own Gender Equality Scheme).
In particular, the University's website provides information about professional and personal development programmes specifically for women (e.g. the Springboard programme, Oxford Women's Network, etc), as well as details about relevant courses run by the Oxford Learning Institute. The University subscribes to the national Athena Project and is a founder member of the Athena SWAN Charter.
Oxford University Students' Union (OUSU) has an elected Women's Officer who is able to offer support and advice to female students of the University.
