![]() But by looking for the women already in positions of leadership, they are just moving pieces around – if Macquarie gets one, someone else loses her. I'm frequently contacted by people either wanting to put me on their shortlist or for me to list women that they can approach. I’d also like recruiters to think about gender much earlier in the pipeline. The next challenge is getting the appointments process and the personal development and annual review process lined up. ![]() We do need to think about the system of how women get into leadership. Macquarie has systemically revised the promotion process rather than rushing around trying to do bits and pieces here and there. I’d also like recruiters to think about gender much earlier in the pipeline - by looking for women already in positions of leadership, they are just moving pieces around. I believe that wherever possible we should have more than just a very limited representation. What needs to happen to achieve gender balance in science?Īn interesting Harvard Business School study showed that if your interview shortlist had at least two women on it, the women were much more likely to get appointed because instead of comparing women to men, the women could be compared against each other as well. When you've got 50/50, it just becomes – that’s Jane or Mary or Fred or Sam, and so individuals can be individuals without being the type for whatever they're representing. If there’s one woman in the department, everybody tends to explain your actions as, that's women. When there’s ‘critical mass,’ individuals aren’t isolated. I believe diversity – gender, race or whatever else - is the key to not getting stuck in a rut. I spent 11 years of my career as the only female academic in my department - then I moved to Macquarie two years ago and inherited a department that's completely gender balanced from level A to level E.īalance has been a good thing. ![]() Of Australia’s nearly 20,000 academic and research-only staff, just 32% are women. Numbers don't lie: Women make up only 33.1% of undergraduates, and 39.7% of PhD students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Her research involves the interaction of biomolecules and she’s establishing an open access biophysical spectroscopy laboratory at Macquarie. She joined Macquarie in 2017 after 20 years at the University of Warwick in the UK where she also spent four years on the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Professor Alison Rodger is a molecular chemist and Head of Department at Macquarie’s Department of Molecular Sciences. To mark International Women’s Day 2019, we asked five prominent Macquarie University women what they think it will take to improve gender balance in science. ![]() Of Australia’s nearly 20,000 academic and research-only staff, just 32% are women.Īnd it’s in senior roles that the disparity becomes stark while women make up 41.7% of junior academics, they represent just 13.9% of senior Professors in STEM, according to 2014 DET figures released by SAGE (Science Gender Equity) in Australia. Women make up 33.1% of undergraduates, and 39.7% of PhD students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Science continues to have low numbers of women in senior positions. ![]()
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