PRESS RELEASE
International Women's Day Awards for Leading Australian Women
On
International Women's Day the inaugural Advancement of Women in
the Workplace Award will be presented to Radmila Desic
from Construction Skills Queensland for her outstanding initiatives to
attract, recruit, retain and train women in the construction industry.
The
Advancement of Women in the
Workplace Award (AWWA)
has been created to
recognise women and men who are
leading the way in reducing gender disparity, promoting equity and
women’s advancement in the workplace.
The
Australian Centre for Leadership for Women in association with Diversity
Council Australia and Avril Henry Pty Ltd will award Radmila Desic with
$1600 and a Certificate thanks to Gold Sponsors, Australia Post and
PepsiCo ANZ.
Whilst
much is known about the difficulties women face attaining leadership
positions in the corporate world, little is known about women in
non-traditional trades such as in construction.
Starting with their schooling, females are given career advice which
reinforces stereotypes depicting the construction industry as a dirty
and harsh work environment. Girls are overlooked for school based or
full time apprenticeships. When women do engage with the industry, as
mature age women, they additionally face childcare and flexibility
issues. Female apprentices experience a lack of structured support to
deal with career development and a lack of networking opportunities due
to the large number of job sites and the industry culture. Professional
women in construction are overlooked for leadership roles by a
management structure predominantly made up of males supporting a
mateship culture that discourages the few senior women to support other
women.
The
Australian Centre for Leadership for Women commends Ms Desic for
establishing the Women in
Construction initiative to develop industry pathways for women,
repositioning them as employees of first-choice and advancing the
construction industry’s commitment to gender equity and accessibility of
the trades. Such policy changes will enhance the work life balance for
men also, in an industry where males struggle with the working hours and
its inflexible structure.
Women
in other non-traditional sectors have also been recognised for their
ground-breaking initiatives to advance women in the workplace. Winning
the Silver AWWA is Louise Perram-Fisk
whose Inspiring Women Series,
designed to support women to develop their careers and empower their
lives within the Queensland Public sector is now an ongoing program for
the Queensland Government.
Commander Jennifer Wittwer
from the Royal Australian Navy won the Bronze Award for her
Navy
Women’s Leadership Program,
designed to provide Navy female leaders with the opportunity to attend,
and participate in, various external leadership development events in
support of the Navy’s Leadership and Values Cultural Reform Strategy now
named, New Generation Navy.
Commander Michelle Fyfe and Acting Senior Sergeant Erica Silwood
from Western Australia Police receive the Highly Commended Award for
establishing the
Western Australian Police
Executive Committee for Women (ECW) and its
Women in Leadership Strategy
that aims to make changes to professional development programs so that
women in the Force can build their capacity to take on senior leadership
roles in WA Police.
Inspector Nada McDonald
of New South Wales Police Force also receives the Highly Commended Award
for supporting and developing women within the Force through
implementation of strategies aligned to achieving workplace goals.
Judges
for the Award were Dr Diann Rodgers-Healey, Founder of the
Australian Centre for Leadership for Women (CLW), Nareen Young, CEO of
Diversity Council Australia, and Avril Henry, Principal of Avril Henry
Pty Ltd.
Further info about the winners and their projects
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