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Project Report Adelaide Women: Q&A Event of 26

Adelaide Women

Project Report

Adelaide Women: Q&A Event

‘Starting the conversation’

Status: Final Version: 2.0 Authors: Dr Jingxiu Bi, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Engineering Ms Karen Burke, Grants Manager, Research Branch Associate Professor Melissa de Zwart, Law School Ms Siobhan Guy, Student Hub Manager, Faculty of the Professions Dr Tara Pukala, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemistry and Physics


Contents

1. Executive Summary 3

2. Project Background & Objectives 4

2.1 Vision 4

2.2 Goals and Expected Outcomes 4

3. Project Implementation 6

3.1 Background Literature Survey 6

3.2 Key Stakeholders and Contributors 7

3.3 Event Structure 7

3.4 Event Participants 8

3.5 Supporting Media 8

4. Project Outcomes 10

4.1 Project Outcomes Summary 10

4.2 Project Evaluation 10

4.3 Organisational Impact 10

5. Recommendations 12

6. Appendices 13

6.1 Adelaide Women: Q&A Event Invitation 13

6.2 Adelaide Women Video Interview Invitation 14

6.3 Collection of Ideas/Strategies 15

6.4 Event Photographs 18

6.5 Links to Supporting Material 20

6.6 Event Feedback Survey 20


1. Executive Summary

Despite substantial progress towards equity and diversity in Australian workplaces over past decades, significant gender inequities are still apparent, particularly in regards to women in leadership roles. This is reflected at the University of Adelaide, where staff gender balance remains a major challenge. Aligned with the vision outlined in the Beacon of Enlightenment Strategic Plan, the University of Adelaide is committed to implementing strategies which will increase the representation of women in senior academic and professional roles. As part of this commitment the University has developed a tailored leadership program for women at the University of Adelaide – Adelaide Women (AW). This Project Group was tasked with the organisation of a significant awareness raising event, intended to promote and raise awareness of the issue of women and leadership at the University of Adelaide. The event aimed to identify obstacles to equal opportunities existing within the University and broader workplace, including personal barriers, the prevailing workplace culture, and lack of female leadership. It also provided opportunities to debate preconceived ideas and offered a forum for University of Adelaide leaders to deliver insights and feedback on how they see gender equity evolving at the University. The event was held at the National Wine Centre on 25 September as a facilitated Q&A style discussion and networking opportunity for close to 60 targeted senior staff across The University. It showcased a specially produced video which identified the benefits, barriers and methods of overcoming barriers to gender equality and captured a range of inputs which may be used to further the gender equality discussion at the University of Adelaide, and ultimately, improve the the number of women in senior leadership positions at the University. Thus, both the event and its legacy have contributed to awareness raising of the gender equality issue.


2. Project Background & Objectives

2.1 Vision Despite significant progress towards gender equality over past decades, Australian women on average continue to earn less than men, and are less likely to advance their careers to the same extent as men. At the same time, men find it more difficult to access flexible working arrangements. Australia wide, statistics concerning gender equality are disquieting. For example, Australian Bureau of Statistics data1 indicate that women make up 51% of all professionals in Australia, yet men outnumber women in managerial jobs by more than three to one. In 2010, women accounted for only 8% of executive key management positions, 8.4% of board positions, 2.5% of Chairs and 3% of CEOs of the top 200 ASX listed companies. The ratio of female to male average weekly full-time earnings is 85.6%. The situation at the University of Adelaide reflects a similar state of gender imbalance, with women at the UofA holding only 28% of senior leadership positions. UofA ranks below both the sector and Group of 8 (Go8) average in terms of academic female staff representation, and does not hold status as an employer of choice for women. A considerable body of evidence has emerged to support the notion that organisations such as the UofA with a mostly male senior management group limits capacity for innovation and productivity (section 3.2). Consequently, UofA faces a number of challenges to address gender balance, and achieve the vision for an enlightened and progressive university expected of a leading Go8 institution. As part of the UofA’s commitment to dramatically shift its performance in gender equity, the Adelaide Women (AW) program was established as a leadership development program for academic and professional women who have been acknowledged to have the potential and desire for greater impact and influence across the University in senior leadership roles. As members of the AW program, the project team has been asked to identify and advance a project that can deliver benefit in addressing current gender based issues, essential for positioning of the UofA within the context of its new Strategic Plan. A major CEDA report on women in leadership2 has identified key strategies to address workplace equity and equality for women. One of these strategies is the use of events which raise awareness of areas of unconscious bias and address them through unconscious bias programs, including educating employees about gender diversity and the detrimental effects of gender stereotypes. The report also states that such events should serve to engage current leaders and introduce accountability, thereby developing gender diversity strategies and clear governance to enable equality of workplace opportunities. The vision for this project was therefore to utilise this strategy to design a networking forum and event to ‘start the conversation’ regarding gender equity across the University of Adelaide.

2.2 Goals and Expected Outcomes The primary goal of the project was to deliver a networking event targeted to approximately 60 Senior UofA Staff. Aims of the event were:

to provide a forum for future decision makers within the University to discuss and debate gender equity and what it looks like at the UofA at present and into the future, and

to generate momentum and an impetus for change that will address the currently unsatisfactory state of gender equity at the UofA.

1 Source: http://www.dca.org.au/gender/business-case.html

2 Committee for Economic Development of Australia. (2013) Women in leadership: Understanding the gender gap.

http://www.dca.org.au/gender/business-case.html


Anticipated outcomes for the AW event were:

increased awareness of the current state-of-play of gender equity at the UofA,

a showcase of the achievements and initiatives that the UofA has implemented to date to address gender equity issues in the workplace, and

collection of ideas and feedback that to feed into a broader, long-term UofA framework for addressing gender issues at the University.

The outcomes of the project have a broad relevance towards enhancing an institutional approach to diversity across all areas of the University, and increasing opportunities arising from the creation of a workplace culture and environment in which diverse employees can meet their professional and personal priorities.


3. Project Implementation

3.1 Background Literature Survey The project commenced with a comprehensive review of the state of gender equity and diversity at the

UofA, and more broadly, current literature surrounding areas contributing to gender diversity; women in

society, women in the workforce and women in leadership, and current policy recommendations to

government and business. Significant findings were used to inform design of the networking event and

forum discussion, as summarised below.

Current Status at UofA

Sector wide benchmarking reported in 2012 across 41 Universities indicates that the UofA has one of the

lowest rates of women in senior academic positions, as described in the table below.

% Female Academic Staff Level D Level E and Above

UofA 23.25 16.53

Sector Average 32.01 23.14

Go8 Average 28.00 19.45

The Vice Chancellor’s Equity Objectives (2013-2015) set a revised organisational target of 30% women in

senior leadership roles according to the following scheme.

Current Status (2013) Revised Target (2015)

Professional 11 34 % 12 38

Academic 8 21 % 10 26

Total 19 27 % 22 31

Current UofA Initiatives to Address Gender Diversity

Gender, Equity and Diversity Committee

Women’s Professional Development Network and Academic Women’s Forum

Fay Gayle Centre for Research on Gender

Dedicated HR team

Adelaide Women Program

DVC(R) University Fellowship Scheme (in 2013)

Barbara Kidman Fellowship Scheme

Selective Recruitment

Equity and Diversity Grant Scheme

AWF Promotions Forum

Faculty Diversity Committees

Research Context for Gender Equity

Key literature consulted during the background survey revealed three consistently recurring themes, namely

(i) current gender based barriers which prevent equality of opportunity in the workplace, (ii) potential

business gains realised by achieving gender equity, and (iii) recommended organisational strategy to address

current gaps in gender equity.


Representative publications consulted in the literature survey include;

Australian Government: Workplace Gender Equality Agency: The Business Case for Gender Equality, March

2013, www.wgea.gov.au

CEDA Women in Leadership: Understanding the gender gap, June 2013

McKinsey Women Matter: Women at the top of corporation: Making it Happen, 2010

McKinsey Women Matter 2012: Making the Breakthrough, 2012

3.2 Key Stakeholders and Contributors Major stakeholders identified for this project were:

University Executive, University Council, Executive Deans

Female professional and academic staff members of the University

Prospective University Staff, University Alumni, Industry

Broader University community

Human Resources

Mr Jonathan Pheasant (Director, Office of Services and Resources) was identified as a suitable project

sponsor due to his past experience as a participant in the Leading at Adelaide Program, and his

demonstrated passion for innovative approaches to organisational change.

3.3 Event Structure The project group decided to structure the event as a 1 hour facilitated Q&A style forum, followed by a 1

hour opportunity for continued free discussion and networking. The group devised ways to raise awareness

of the current state of gender inequity in Australia and specifically at the UofA throughout the event, as well

as to share examples of positive action by The UofA.

Based on the key ideas identified from the background literature survey, the following three themes were

defined and formed a structure for the facilitated discussion;

1. Benefits of gender diversity in the workplace

2. Current barriers to employment opportunity for women

3. Future strategies to address gender imbalance

A crucial aspect of the event was to incorporate interactive activities which promoted debate on gender

equity and what it looks like at the UofA, currently and into the future, and allowed for the collection of

ideas and feedback that could inform future recommendations for longer-term, University wide strategic

action.

To encourage critical thinking and engagement, a Q&A style facilitated forum, incorporating group work was

decided upon as the structure for the event. Key to this was choice of facilitator; Mr Paul Duldig (Vice

President, Services and Resources) was recruited as facilitator to involve senior executive in the project, and

as a key stakeholder in initiatives which promote University strategic priorities under the Beacon of

Enlightenment plan.

http://www.wgea.gov.au/


3.4 Event Participants Invitations to the networking event were targeted in an approach to optimise representation across

university sectors, and provide diversity in terms of gender, professional and academic staff, and differing

levels of career progression. An audience of approximately 60 people was considered by the project group

to optimal for maximum audience interaction and effective discussion.

Invitations to were sent to all Executive Deans and Divisional Heads to attend the event, and nominate four

additional colleagues from the Faculty/Division to attend. Directive was given to nominate men and women

who would be able to contribute to a discussion on issues of equity and women in leadership, and who were

(or may be) in a position to affect change in the way the University tackles these issues and promotes

women in leadership.

Additional key stakeholders including AW line managers and facilitators and participants of the AW program

were also invited.

The final email invitation (appended in Section 6.1) was sent to 82 invitees, of which 56 participated in the

event.

3.5 Supporting Media The group decided that the messages and themes of the event needed to be presented in a diversity of

ways. Consequently a range of supporting media was used to disseminate information.

Adelaide Women Video In order to encourage an open, sharing debate in the style of Q&A, it was decided that much of the

background information and conversation starters could be provided by video. This also facilitated the

inclusion of multiple voices reflecting the diversity of the university and involving people who were not able

to attend the event. The video style enabled the message to be presented directly and dynamically, rather

than being presented statically (through a power point presentation) or as reportage from the group.

Therefore we developed criteria for invitations for participation in the video and the themes to be

addressed. We wanted to reflect the broader University community (excluding students). Therefore, we

needed a mix of male and female, senior and junior, academic and professional staff. We also wanted people

who had specific roles in the gender and equity area (see stakeholders) as well as recipients of the Barbara

Kidman fellowship, to address the concept of initiatives to overcome barriers.

Invitations to participate in the video were sent to thirty people outlining questions appended in Section 6.2.

Fifteen people agreed to be involved, and due to practical issues twelve people were interviewed. Extracts

from all participants were included in the video. The resulting video was broken into three themes,

matching the themes used to focus discussion at the event. The full video is to be included on the Adelaide

Women website (see below) as a legacy of the project.

Adelaide Women Twitter Feed As part of the intention to spread the message as far and wide as possible, the group engaged with the use

of social media. The Adelaide Women twitter account (@Adelaide Women) was created and used to

promote and build up some “vibe” around the event. It was also used on the night to attract questions from

the floor and those outside the room, with questions and comments being shown live on the screen and fed

to the moderator on his iPad, using the #AWQandA. The Twitter feed was an alternative means of displaying


comments and feedback and capturing the contributions from the activities. The Adelaide Women twitter

account may remain as a legacy of the event as a means to publicise ongoing activities and for networking by

interested parties.


4. Project Outcomes

4.1 Project Outcomes Summary Outcomes of the event included a collection of discussion points from the key themes, as appended in

Section 6.3. Participants were also asked to record a statement describing one action they would take at an

individual level to drive change in gender diversity at the UofA. A photograph gallery was also generated to

document the event (Section 6.4).

It is proposed that the video and a range of discussion points captured at the event via whiteboards and the

“I will” statements will be made available on an Adelaide Women website to be hosted on Unified (Section

6.5). The website and its resources will be publicised through email, Twitter and feedback directly to those

who attended the event. The ongoing management of the site will be transitioned to HR at the conclusion of

the Adelaide Women program.

4.2 Project Evaluation The event was evaluated primarily by anonymous feedback collected through means of an email survey of

participants. A complete collection of the survey questions and responses is given in the appendix (Section

6.6).

In summary, the objective of this project was to address the relatively poor performance in gender equity at

the UofA, by providing a forum to inform discussion and future policy for the broader University community.

Feedback confirmed the project was successful in meeting this aim by;

hosting a networking forum in which participants actively engaged in the gender debate

collecting a series of recommendations for future strategic initiatives

Primary criticisms consistently identified by the feedback included a lack of clear aims, and a lack of clear

forward plan for future strategies. In addition, it was recognised the short event was insufficient to explore

the complexities of the gender issue, and allow detailed problem solving strategies to develop.

4.3 Organisational Impact Potential business gains to the University from improved gender equity balance making it attractive to

employees/students, improve staff retention, changing culture and breaking barriers. These gains further

and facilitate the aims of the Beacon of Enlightenment Strategic Plan.

The event served as a conversation starter and launching pad for further consideration of gender diversity

issues across the University. The event was well attended by senior management and a range of other

change leaders, indicating that organisational impact was diverse, and that a range of people across the

University community are open to participating in cultural change.

Despite the positive contributions of attendees however, it is clear from the event feedback that there is a

feeling of uncertainty regarding next steps to address gender issues for UofA staff, and in particular the

expectation that this will be largely driven by University senior leaders. This highlights an underlying


organisational culture which sees gender equity issues as the responsibility of the organisation rather than

the individual.


5. Recommendations

Future ventures may extend the findings of the current project by seeking to evaluate and implement some

of the strategies raised during the networking event, and providing a systematic appraisal of their successes

and shortcomings.

A set of recommendations for future initiatives to be implemented at The University of Adelaide was collected from discussion at the AW event. These are as follows;

Make a clear commitment to action some of the initiatives identified in the “I will” statements;

Make the video available for staff discussion;

Consider an annual networking and awareness raising event for University staff;

Maintain a website and mailing list for those engaged in awareness raising; and

Promote an organisational culture change to empower individuals to address gender diversity issues.

Acting on these recommendations is crucial if we are to redress the current gender imbalance at the UofA, maximise the contributions of women within the University, and enhance the long-term prosperity of the organisation.


6. Appendices

6.1 Adelaide Women: Q&A Event Invitation


6.2 Adelaide Women Video Interview Invitation We are currently engaged in a project (as part of the Adelaide Women program) to plan and deliver a

Women’s Networking Event which will promote the benefits of gender diversity in an entertaining and

impactful way to a large group of University leaders.

As part of this project we are producing a short video which will interview a diverse range of staff about

their experiences of and observations regarding barriers, limitations and opportunities to gender equity.

This video will be used at an event on 25 September as part of a Q and A style event to prompt further

discussion and will be placed on the Adelaide Women website as a legacy of the project and a resource for

addressing and improving gender equity at the University of Adelaide.

We have identified you as someone who would make a valuable contribution to the video and we would

really value your participation.

In particular we are interested in your thoughts regarding:

Personal barriers to equality of opportunity

Institutional barriers

Strategies to overcome these barriers

Good news stories regard how such barriers have been overcome.

The sorts of questions that you might address include but are in no way limited to:

1. Have you experienced or observed any barriers to equality of opportunity or outcome in the

workplace?

2. If so, what was it?

3. How, if at all, was it resolved?

4. Have you experienced any of the following:

a. Lack of flexible work practices?

b. Sexism?

c. Entrenched attitudes to gender stereotypes?

d. Lack of mentoring?

e. Lack of female leadership?

f. Poor workplace culture?

g. Lack of confidence?

5. How have these affected you personally? Or from the point of view of your career?

6. Who has helped you?

7. What do you think we can change to improve gender equity?

a. Greater flexibility?

b. Access to childcare?

c. Mentoring?

d. Corporate change?

8. Tell us about a bad experience

9. Tell us about a good experience 10. How does the University support senior women to balance career and family? 11. What are the benefits of diversity in leadership? 12. Why are only 28% of senior management positions at the University held by women? 13. When will we see women making a greater impact and having more influence across the University? 14. Do you have a message for the organisation/audience?


6.3 Collection of Ideas/Strategies

Theme 1- Benefits of Gender Diversity

Table 1

Why?

Better performing university

Better decisions- diversity in decision making

Draw full spectrum for best talent/solutions

What will be better?

Different views

Attract the best people

Table 2

Why?

Good modelling for students

Better mix of skills

Balanced decision making

It’s what civil societies do/should do

Improves bottom line

What will be better?

Interactions

Collaborations

Communications

Leadership

Management

Morale

Career partnership

Public face/image

Graduate profile

Accelerated development –Particularly but not only for women

Table 3

Values & behaviour

Leadership and employment opportunities

Compassionate

Creative

Multidimensional

Fair = equity not homogeneity

Recognizing /Permitting difference

/ Celebrating

/Valuing

Table 4

Benefits

Why?


Talent pool

Dynamics

Role models for students etc

Rights?

Better?

As above

Morale

Retention

Look like?

Fair

Table 5

Why?

Enhance different perspective

Better decision making

Why not? 50% of the population are women

Lead by example. University to reflect diversity that is found in the surrounding community

Better representation/governance

Improve the staff experience including and regarding a family friendly culture

3 top reasons:

Attract and maintain more talent

Better decision making that is inclusive and comprehensive

Role modelling for the community as a responsible institution

Table 6

Why?

Talent equally distributed therefore underutilizing talent

Provides different perspectives

Psychologically healthy

Reflect society at large

High performing teams at least 3 on executive

We need role models for the university and the community- we are about opportunities

Ability to attract high performing

Market attraction/branding

It’s just better [Mabo]

What would it look like?

It would be natural

Wouldn’t need to have targets in the plan more colour

Table 7

Gender equity

Half population representation

Talent attraction + retention

Branding

Inclusivity/ visibility of senior management


University leadership

Better

>30%= productivity

profitability increase

Skill set diversity

Succession planning

Empathy

Table 8

We would perform better

Better representative of the university community

We are at the bottom of group of eight that is unacceptable

It would take pressure of our current female staff

A more diverse range of voices informing the issues

More role models for female students

Provides a better understanding of the overall pressures of daily life

It would be like we didn’t know it was missing

Theme 3 – Strategies to Improve Gender Diversity


6.4 Event Photographs


6.5 Links to Supporting Material Adelaide Women Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6uA6mWsb8

6.6 Event Feedback Survey Q1. Overall satisfaction with event format, timing, catering and venue

Poor Satisfactory Good Very Good Excellent N/A Total Average Rating

4.17% 1

12.50% 3

16.67% 4

25% 6

41.67% 10

0% 0

24

3.88

Recurrent themes;

Excellent venue and catering

Format generally well received

Financial investment in the event was seen to be potentially extravagant

Timing of event highlighted an issue for staff with other responsibilities

Goals and context of the session needed to be made clearer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6uA6mWsb8


Representative comments;

I could see a lot of effort and thought had been out into this event, very good format. great job!

I wasn't entirely sure what the goals or purpose of the event were beyond networking, so I have a

hard time assessing whether to be satisfied with the format overall. I was invited to the event out of

the blue (not a member of the Adelaide Women). It felt a little like preaching to the converted

except we, the converted, were doing the preaching. I did meet about 6 people which was good. The

Timing was unfortunate because I had to be away from my small child in the evening. Catering and

venue were fine, although it was snacks at dinnertime, that were often quite rich.

The timing of the event highlighted an issue for (some) staff with caring responsibilities. I needed to

make arrangements for my children to be collected from School to be able to attend as it was

outside of my regular (part-time) working hours, and standard work hours. Catering, branding (pens,

notepads etc) were very good - but potentially too extravagant given budget constraints.

Excellent food and drink, just the right amount for this type of event, very comfortable, welcoming

and enjoyable (but still work focused)

Q2. Facilitator

Poor Satisfactory Good Very Good Excellent Total Average Rating

4.17% 1

12.50% 3

16.67% 4

41.67% 10

25% 6

24

3.71

Recurrent themes;

Generally positive response to facilitator

Recognised ability of facilitator to moderate discussion and provide feedback within constraints of

the event agenda

Message and aims of event not made clear enough


Good at keeping things moving forward and to time though clearly a challenging role to get through

everything whilst providing regular feedback and broad participation against a tough agenda.

Once again, I am not entirely clear on the purpose of the event, so the facilitator did a good job of

summarizing people's answers to the questions, and moderating the discussion, but to what aim I

am not sure.

Q3. Opportunities for audience participation and networking


0% 0

8.33% 2

16.67% 4

25% 6

50% 12

0% 0

24

4.17


Recurrent themes;

Variety of activities allowed scope for range of contributions

Value of networking opportunities were recognised


Good variety between spoken & written, group and individual contributions. Mix of people on tables

done well, with plenty of opp for free-flow networking.

There was plenty of scope for engagement, a wonderful atmosphere, very supportive and

encouraging

Q4. Please rate how well the following theme was addressed during the Adelaide Women Q&A.

Theme: What are the benefits if the University of Adelaide gets gender equity right?


0% 0

16.67% 4

33.33% 8

20.83% 5

29.17% 7

0% 0

24

3.63

Recurrent themes;

No clear themes, all comments included below;

We, the participants, answered this question. There was also a video, where some individuals

(primarily from the law school) also answered this question largely providing their opinion. I would

have liked to hear more of the research demonstrating the ways in which institutions and

communities actually benefit from gender equity, rather than mainly people's perceptions.

Regardless of the benefits, it is standard practice.

I thought all of the themes were treated well. The video was well done.

There were some great ideas!

Seemed to me that there was less focus on the *benefits* and that this was almost regarded as so

obvious that it didn't need to be stressed


Theme: What are the barriers to gender equity at the University of Adelaide?


8.33% 2

16.67% 4

25% 6

16.67% 4

33.33% 8

0% 0

24

3.50

Recurrent themes;


I felt the comments made on gender equity being a much wider issue than how many women have

we got in senior leadership positions was a very valid point and worthy of much wider discussion.


Role modelling, how we provide professional development, career management and talent support

at a more junior stage, how women are represented as part of the University's history etc etc are all

really important issues, hidden discrimination (ie perceptions vs reality of part time performance

etc), family friendly policies in place but not necessarily consistently promoted/implemented ie

attitudes towards some policies are variable. However, what was not raised at the session is how

difficult it is for line managers to embrace some of the family friendly policies which can be very

challenging to manage in practice, particularly in times of budgetary constraint, nor is it politically

correct to have a discussion around the realities and necessities of making difficult choices between

career and parenthood (or other caring responsibilities) which are not necessarily the responsibility

of the employer to solve.

Focus was biased to women with children. What about women without children?

This is a large question that mainly only really was answered by the statement that the culture here

is selfish.

Much of the discussion related to general workplace / higher education issues and didn't identify

why UoA had lower statistics than similar institutions.

The video gave some great insight.

The problem seems to be recruitment to ongoing positions, not opportunities once here.

This was very well done. The discussion - prompted by some of the film clips - worked well and was

productive


Theme: How can we improve gender equity at the University of Adelaide?


8.33% 2

25% 6

25% 6

20.83% 5

20.83% 5

0% 0

24

3.21

Recurrent themes;

Identified need for continued action to put talk into practise

Expectation of institutional commitment


My comments for 4-6 are the same. They were addressed about as well as they could be if

considered an introduction. Insufficient time available at this session alone to really pursue each

theme in any real depth - more like just about being able to capture the biggest issues. Felt like we

were skating the surface when with more time more views could be aired and shared, and more

time spent on practical/tangible ideas for improvements.

We need to find ways to do it and support from AU Executive.

Valuable session - but how can we ensure that changes are taken up rather than left as mere

discussion points?

Q7. What did you like most about the event?


Recurrent themes;

Good networking opportunity, including with senior AU executive

Starting conversations and participation to address gender equity issues


Meeting a few new people, some of them high up in the administration. Being invited to the event

implied that I had been recognized as someone with potential to advance.

The event was very well planned and executed. The format was novel and challenged participants to

really think about, and engage with, the issues.

The opportunity for open interaction by senior management. Well facilitated and planned.

Q8. What did you like least about the event?

Recurrent themes;

Insufficient time to adequately address complex issues

Lack of clear strategies and outcomes arising from event

Highlighting aspects of poor culture within the organisation, including perceived lack of awareness or

willingness to address issues from senior management


Not enough time. Perhaps breakdown each of the three questions as separate items for future in-

depth discussion, though of course all themes are deeply inter-related and may be impossible to

stick to such confines!

It reinforced for me that the most senior management levels do not understand the problem. They

are tinkering at the edges and have yet to undertake a truly critical analysis of the problems that

underpin the University's poor record of gender equity.

Unsure as to how the findings / discussions will be applied practically. There seemed to be more

questions raised than answered. I believe there's an opportunity to provide attendees with a

summary of discussion points / corresponding action items so they feel as though (in addition to the

basic, inherent awareness-raising of the issue that the event sought to highlight), there is something

practical occurring as follow-through.

Q9. What action will you take away from the Adelaide Women Q&A Event to implement in your local

area? ("I will...")

Recurrent themes;


I have already started to mentor other women in my team, given that I am the only member of our

School Executive who is a woman.

(Subject to available funds!) support an initiative to raise the profile of women in our institutional

storytelling.


Continue to be concerned that we aren't focusing our efforts in the right places. This is not a

criticism of you as a group, I applaud the fact that you did this and got involved.

Encourage others to have courage to speak up.

Not sure what will happen as a result

I will recognize that I am a role model to younger female students and academics and I will not say

things to discourage them. I will look into what I need to do for promotion and when I should apply. I

will do this not because I am ambitious and want a pay rise, but because I want to set an example of

getting what I deserve because I ask for it. This is one of the main barriers to women's advancement:

not asking. See the book Women Don't Ask by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever.

Not sure......

Learn more about the benefits of and barriers to gender equity and make sure my team are aware of

these also.

I will implement in my strategy to increase women targets

To highlight and challenge the dominant 'male culture' that underpins how many things are done

within the University and demonstrate that there are other equally valid ways of achieving the same

ends.

Encourage networking

I will continue the conversation!

I will...provide a strong role model for my team to show that a leader can have a good work/life

balance

I will support and encourage women in my work area

I will work at the local level to champion the role and contribution of women

Continue to strive to be positive with all people

Discuss progression of women's careers in our workplace - initially seeking to better understand

their desire for progression and the consideration factors so we're not operating on assumptions.

I will encourage women to apply for senior positions, and I will facilitate mentoring and professional

development for professional women.

Continue this important conversation with my Branch and look to provide best practice for gender

equity.

Q10. Any additional comments or feedback

Recurrent themes;


I would be very happy to attend further events like this.

Professional, well organised event. Thanks for the opportunity to be involved.

I was not 100% certain re what was to happen as a result of the session, if anything.

I realize that the group who organized this was tasked with creating an event. I am not sure what in

the world I would have done in their shoes, so I am not in any way wanting to criticize them because

I don't claim I could do better. I felt that the networking was useful, but that the remainder of the

event was, in essence, asking us, the people who are experts in lots of things but not this, to explain

the problem and the solution. I would have liked to hear some experts speak about the issues. For

example, aren't there experts in gender studies at the University? I have participated in other events

to address gender equity at other institutions and felt that this one lacked reference to the large


body of research and the expertise that should be guiding us in how we solve the issues we face.

Perhaps the goal wasn't to try to solve the problems, but if not that, then what?

My impression is that the attendees all had very different expectations of the event. Perhaps this

was not managing it well enough or perhaps for this sort of event it was inevitable. Regardless I think

people walked away thinking they enjoyed themselves but not quite sure of what comes next. I'm

also not sure if this was the responsibility of the group to ensure the what comes next was

understood. But it was somebody's responsibility.

Congrats to all

Well done team!!

Keep up the good work - would be nice to now seek the opinion of staff classification 6 - 9 to see if

they are keen to seek higher level positions within the University and if no, why not.

Thank you for your wonderful work

I enjoyed it and found it stimulating - only concern is over whether the ideas will turn into actions!

But well done and congratulations

Very enjoyable, more events like this will build a great senior team in the University

A well put together event, great venue, great facilitation, strong opportunity for networking, safe

environment to contribute. Could be enhanced by greater follow-through or detail of applied actions

following event.

Well done to the project team

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