UAEW publishes new resource supporting women in applying for awards

You are here:

UAEW publishes new resource supporting women in applying for awards

Wednesday, 17 February 2021

Tags:

In October 2020, a resource was published by the Universities Australia Executive Women (UAEW) Group, to redress gender inequality in the awards system through supporting the increase in women being nominated for and receiving awards. ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Caroline Finch AO, as the Co-Chair of UAEW Group from 2019 – 2020 and a member of ECU’s Athena SWAN Charter Committee, co-led the production of the new UAEW resource entitled ‘Women and Awards guide’.

In Australia, women are continuously underrepresented in senior leadership positions across all sectors and there is also a low level for formal recognition of those who are highly successful in such roles. Compared to men, there is a smaller number of women being nominated for awards, meaning that even fewer women are receiving these awards. Women will often not self-nominate or nominate other women for awards, even when they are deserving of them. A characteristic of many women is that they work to a high level without the promise of reward and are not the kinds of people who seek external praise for their efforts.

The UAEW Group is a national body sponsored by Universities Australia, the representative body for universities in Australia. The group has provided strategic advice and high-level guidance for Australian universities to promote gender equality and improve the status of women in higher education. The awards guide was developed to give those involved in university awards systems, including internal nomination processes, helpful advice and practical application tips. It is particularly relevant to Vice-Chancellors, managers and supervisors, and chairs and members of nomination and awarding panels.

Increasing the number of women being nominated and receiving awards in important for gender equality and important to create visible role models for women and girls, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Awards help to validate work, help attract funding and can help to advance a women’s career.

The UAEW Group hope this resource will highlight the unconscious bias that exists within Australian universities’ current awards systems and contribute to improving recognition and representation of women in senior executive academic and professional roles.

As a university, ECU is committed to creating an environment where equality and diversity is celebrated, and everyone has equal access and opportunities to achieve their potential. As such, we have in place, a gender-bias-specific resources to support the university in counter-programming day-to-day bias.

For more information or to download the Women and Awards guide, please visit the webpage.

For more information about ECU’s commitment to gender equality, visit the ECU Gender Equality website or contact athenaswanaustralia@ecu.edu.au.

About ECU