ECU has been recognised as a Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champion

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ECU has been recognised as a Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champion

Tuesday, 03 December 2019

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ECU has been recognised as a Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champion by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS). Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champions are committed to gender equity across the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) system.

Launched earlier this year, the Women in STEM Decadal Plan is an AAS initiative providing a framework to guide the actions of government, industry, academia and the education sector over the next ten years to achieve gender equity in STEM. The plan aims to present a shared vision of the STEM ecosystem to attract, retain, and progress girls and women in STEM careers and education. The major goal of the plan is to achieve gender equity in STEM across six categories of: leadership, evaluation, workplace culture, visibility, education and industry action.

ECU became a Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champion by publicly aligning our gender equality journey and our gender equity activities with the six categories identified in the Decadal Plan. ECU has also committed to providing ongoing feedback and to continue working towards better equity, diversity and inclusion in the Higher Education and Research sectors.

ECU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Partnerships) Professor Cobie Rudd, said ECU was delighted to be recognised as a Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champion.

“Aligning our gender equity activities to the Decadal Plan has provided a platform to highlight the progressive work that ECU staff are consistently accomplishing” said Professor Rudd.

The initiatives outlined in the Women in STEM Decadal Plan, are aligned with ECU’s goals in our Gender Equality Strategy including: to maintain the Science in Australian Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Award, progress further under the Athena SWAN Charter and continually achieve the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality Citation.

In December 2018, ECU was one of the first 11 universities and one of only 15 organisations nationally to achieve the inaugural SAGE Athena SWAN Bronze Institutional Accreditation. The Award recognises institutions who understand the current state of gender equity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) disciplines and have developed a four-year action plan which targets structural and cultural barriers and drives diversity in higher education and research.

ECU continued to achieve a Citation as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) in February 2019 for the third consecutive year reflecting the University’s active commitment to gender equality and diversity.

Additionally in 2019, ECU was ranked sixth in the world for Gender Equality in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings. These rankings show how the global higher education sector is contributing to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Gender Equality SDG focuses on universities’ commitment to encouraging women to enter and succeed in academia and university study, and universities’ gender equality policies.

ECU looks forward to working with the AAS and other Decadal Plan Champions to continue to make significant and measurable improvements for achieving gender equality across the STEMM ecosystem.

Read ECU’s response to the Women in STEM Decadal Plan.

For more information about ECU’s commitment to gender equality, please visit the Athena SWAN website.

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