OEEO -

Panel Comments from 26 August 2005

1. Haven’t we done gender equity?
Why do Agencies need to improve gender equity?

Women still not fully represented in senior leadership roles
Necessary to promote women’s interests in public decision making
Need to reach critical mass to affect culture
From a Department of Education and Training perspective – similar to most other public service agencies – we ‘did’ Gender Equity in the 80’s through to the mid 90’s. If we hadn’t had a history of ‘doing Gender Equity’ we certainly wouldn’t be equipped to talk about some of the questions at this forum. During the ‘80s we had the revolution we had to have.
When talking about the current status of Gender Equity to women in my agency I always say there is some good news and some not so good news. The good news is that Gender Equity has become mainstreamed - and the not so good news is that Gender Equity has become mainstreamed.
It’s what we wanted during the ‘80s – we wanted ge to become a naturalised part of our organizations. In the ‘80s we had a high profile explicit focus on this area – as soon as it became a mainstream issue it lost that focus – it was as if we had ‘made’ it and as if we could take it for granted that we had got what we wanted that that we would go from strength to strength without having to worry about it anymore.
In the Department of Education I can trace back the public demise of gender equity to the dismantling of the Women in Education annual state conferences in the mid ‘90s. They were a big, high profile, inspirational, celebratory events – ensuring connectedness for participants with each other and system. As soon as disappeared so did the gender equity profile.
Between the ‘90s and now things still happened in the organization – promotions, pools, training of selection panel members in equity principles, part-time and flexible work policies – a whole range of things.
And yet our figures for women in management currently remain static. Greater than 70% workforce (35,000) are women, but only 20% SES positions are held by women. When we add Schools Principals across the state to executive figures that only goes up to 30%.
So we have an inverse situation: 30% of the workforce are males who hold 70% of the management positions; 70% females in the workforce hold only 30% positions.
We’ve got to improve the statistics. It doesn’t look good getting a bad report card when you’re the Department of Education!
We are an outcomes-based agency. The outcomes we want for our organization in this area are a marked improvement in the representation of women across the top salary levels. Agencies want to be harnessing our complete talent pools, not just dipping our toes into one small pond; we want to reflect the face and values of our community and particularly in Education, be role-modelling for our students.
This requires a concerted effort around WiL – for us as part of our Equity & Diversity Management Plan – in effect, whilst we have mainstreamed gender equity we have mainstreamed it with a focus – a spotlight shining brightly on it.

2. Do you think that what women want is just different from what men want from work and life and that women are choosing alternatives to the traditional hierarchical career path?

Maybe in the past but now younger men seem to want similar things to women – both want alternative to the current approach
Some women do want different things from men
Some don’t – e.g partners
Is leadership portrayed as an attractive option?
- It’s hard/complex
- Lots of expectations now on leaders from different stakeholders
- Means you have to make sacrifices
- Compounded by barriers that particularly affect women
We talk a lot about men being from Mars and women being from Venus, but in fact the research done within the Department of Eduction and Training suggests there are few differences between what men and women want in terms of their career aspirations.
In 1998 and again this year we conducted a career and aspirations survey of staff in our organisation. The preliminary results of this latest survey suggest that men and women share similar aspirations. How they act out those aspirations may be another thing.
Survey looked at structural, organisatonal/cultural, and social barriers (family responsibility; mobility) to promotion. The results suggest that staff don’t perceive that there are any structural barriers to promotion – but there are definitely organisational cultural barriers. And this is why the 3 programs of work we’ve set up as the Women in Leadership strategy for our agency are about cultural change for the organization.
1. Catalyst program: aims to raise the consciousness of men and women around issues of women in leadership. It seeks to ensure men understand their responsibility to develop and promote women. It also aims to improve the confidence of women to take up leadership positions, not necessarily hierarchical positions as leadership is exercised in all parts of the system at different levels and in various guises. This program encourages women to reflect on what they want in their careers. Anecdotally what I’m hearing from women are “I don’t want to do that’ rather than ‘Can’t do that’ or ‘not allowed to do that’. It’s about having real choices. Susan Maushart in “What women want next” What women want from the workplace is a level playing field for those who want to play that particular game and a different playing field for those who don’t”.
2. Promoting Women in Leadership program: this is a targeted program in leadership development for women poised for leadership. It is an upskilling program to encourage women to throw their hat confidently into the promotional ring and develops their skills to act strategically to achieve their promotional aspirations. The core workshops of the program are run by the Leadership Development for Women Program at UWA.
3. Leading Women: this is a program to support women already in leadership to ensure that the critical mass we build up of women is maintained. It values diverse styles of leadership – don’t have to be one type of woman to be a leader. It also encourages executive women to work together and to support other women in their portfolios.

3. How do we tackle the inevitable backlash from men (and some women) to tackling changes in culture and targeting activity to support and develop opportunities for women in the public service?

Help them to see impact of current situation – short and long term
Need to see how this helps them e.g.
- Improved culture for them too
- Better opportunities for women in their families/friends
Not happening at the expense of other groups – need to focus on everyone’s needs
Help them see progress that has been made so far and the benefits of that – therefore worth putting further effort in
Get them involved
Coaching is a valuable development tool that organisations wanting to develop female leaders can use:
- To complement their women-in-leadership development programmes – it helps to personalise the learning for participants and assists them in transferring it back in the workplace
- As a stand-alone process where there is no organisation-wide leadership development programme, e.g. in smaller agencies. Coaches use a range of tools and development methods to support leaders in creating their own development goals and actions.
For more information on the coaching services provided by the Integral Leadership Centre please visit : www.integralleadership.org.au
As soon as I stepped into this position and people heard what my title “Promoting Women” I inevitably got the line ‘Women in Leadership? When are you going to do something for men?” Initially my instinctive response was to way “Men in leadership? They’re already there aren’t they?” But I’ve moved on from that position – I realise that indeed men DO need something – big lots of something too.
WiL is about cultural change men need to know and understand this stuff too, and to be equipped with the skills to enact change for the better.
This is where I break into my Karate Kid impersonation – here we are working away with women and empowerment and cultural change – leaving out 30% of the workforce, or more appropriately 70% of the people in top decision-making positions.
So, how to tackle it? Well, I don’t think we tackle it, I think we need to expect it and move with it. I don’t know any lovely simple formula for this – I only know we need to make sure we are:
Inclusive –women and men – sponsors, mentors, attendees
Appreciate diversity – styles of leadership
Recognise that leadership can be exercised at all levels, in a myriad of contexts of the organisation and various guises
Do have support from the top – very public support and that we remind our leaders of their big “R” responsibility to support this agenda.
Engaged men in the programme – sent out broadcasts and organised publicity for the program – the launch was an important part of the program
No magic bullet
Some men did make official complaints and men that were critical were educated about the program
This is bigger than the Police Service – this is happening everywhere
A common united corporate approach will continue to happen
People need to see the personal benefits and the benefits to the organisation
There must be organisational support from the top and recognition of leadership at all levels and recognition of different leadership styles as well