Through the Lens of Critical Actors: Embedding Gender Equality in Irish Universities Through the Athena Swan Ireland Charter

In this chapter we explore the embedding of gender equality in Irish higher education through the implementation of the Athena Swan Ireland Charter in three higher education institutions (HEIs). A research study was conducted to explore the process of embedding gender equality from the perspectives of critical institutional actors, using feminist institutionalism (FI) with institutional change theory as a theoretical framework for understanding how formal and informal rules and structures interact to undermine, or support, efforts at institutional change for gender equality. Semi-structured interviews took place with 26 participants, who were working within institutional Athena Swan teams. Narrative analysis of interview transcripts uncovered the extent to which the Charter is a mechanism for modest institutional adaptation. The study found that the formalising nature of Athena Swan actions is a major enabler to the process of implementation and of incremental change. However, the research also suggests that the institutional change triggered by Athena Swan is dominated by modes of change that are not only slow and gradual but at risk of being undermined due to the focus on the formal at the expense of the informal. Therefore, the Athena Swan Charter will need to tackle the informal structures and cultures that continue to reproduce gender inequalities.