Professor Valerie Stead
The contemporary gender challenges that hamper women’s progression in the UK workplace.
A dynamic research area of expertise focused on exploring and tackling gender inequalities in work and organisational contexts.
Our research has a social justice agenda, motivated by the persistent global challenge of gender inequality. The Academy aims to connect scholars concerned with tackling gender inequalities in work-based contexts both at Lancaster and beyond, to develop networks at national and international level, to showcase and stimulate ground-breaking and impactful research and to promote knowledge-sharing amongst scholars and practitioners through events seminars and workshops.
With a range of projects across multiple areas, exploring themes including gender dynamics in family business, and gender equality in Business and Management Schools, our academics are identifying solutions to key issues across the world.
Businesses put gender equality and inclusivity high on their agenda. Media coverage of gender issues at work has never been greater, and we are seeing increased legislation to recognise the importance of gender equality including pay gap reporting and shared parental leave policy. Yet despite this attention, women continue to be under-represented in positions of power in organisations.
The Gender Matters project created in 2018 aims to shed light on this resilient problem by drawing on a range of international and national sources to identify the scope and range of gender challenges facing UK organisations.
Visit Gender MattersThe Academy is running an online seminar series for researchers interested in learning about research methods, including early career researchers and doctoral students.
View recordings and presentations from previous seminars in the events archive.
Events archiveMore News
Discover more of the work of the Academy through our research videos
Professor Valerie Stead, Professor Claire Leitch and Dr Sophie Alkhaled discuss the importance of their work on gender equality issues in the workplace.
Discover how working with institutions across Europe is helping to shape practice and policies on national and international levels.
How can increased diversity lead to more and better innovation in business? Dr Lara Pecis explains the benefits.
Dr Sophie Alkhaled outlines how entrepreneurship provides women with a legitimate space to engage in sustainable social and political change in Saudi Arabia.
Gender equality is a global concern and one of the UN sustainable development goals, yet women continue to be under-represented in positions of power in organisations in the UK and globally.
In this special International Women's Day 2021 research event, The Academy for Gender, Work and Leadership teamed up with the Centre for Family Business on the theme of 'Achieving Gender Equality at Work in a Global Context; challenges and pathways.' Facilitated by Professor Ellie Hamilton, short presentations from Professor Valerie Stead, Dr Sophie Alkhaled and Dr Giovanna Campopiano each took a different perspective ranging from the broad organisational context to entrepreneurship and family business.
You can watch the presentations below.
The contemporary gender challenges that hamper women’s progression in the UK workplace.
Research on entrepreneurship as a legitimate space for feminist solidarity and political activism in non-democratic countries
A discussion of the most up-to-date topics in research on women’s involvement in family business
Pentland Centre, People, Work and Organisation
Pentland Centre
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Centre for Family Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Latin America Research Cluster, Pentland Centre
Centre for Family Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Centre for Family Business, Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in Management Education, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Pentland Centre
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Institute for Social Futures Fellow
Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in Management Education