Women

Unlike most colleges in Oxford, Green Templeton has throughout its history been a community of male and female students and fellows.

We have a proud history of hosting research on subjects marginalised elsewhere in academia which predominately affect women: including maternal and perinatal health and adult social care. The college’s Sheila Kitzinger Programme, named after the ground-breaking feminist writer and activist Sheila Kitzinger, provides support to researchers and practitioners helping women and other vulnerable groups.

In the last few years, our students and medical educators have made a point of acknowledging and addressing the medical gender gap, working with the Oxford FemTech Society on activities and a library collection which raise awareness of health inequalities; while a replica female skeleton, Marrowlyn Monroe, has recently joined male skeleton Pelvis Presley as a reminder that medical education should include all bodies.

We strive to support everyone to feel welcome, safe and valued in achieving their potential and contributing as a member of the college, whatever their gender and whatever their role. For example, following the realisation that women were under-represented in the visual environment of the college, in 2024 we celebrated the contributions of fourteen women at Green Templeton, and their work advancing gender equality in the wider world, by commissioning nine new college portraits by photographer Hannah Veale. This followed the unveiling of a portrait of the college’s first woman Principal, Denise Lievesley, by Hero Johnson, and the ten portraits are now visible in key locations in the Lecture Theatre and Common Room.

These visual gestures are matched with small practical steps: from free menstrual products provided in the college’s women and gender-neutral toilets, to our participation in the Oxford Safe Lodge Scheme, to a robust harassment policy and procedures. In 2024 Green Templeton introduced a Menopause in the Workplace policy, which provides information and guidance for staff and managers about support for those experiencing negative impacts of menopause, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

The college provides support for any student or employee in finding resources and navigating the University Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service.