Australia, as most countries across the globe, has a well recognized gap in the participation of females across the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), and the Australian Government now supports a range of measures to address this.
Across several NHMRC and ARC funding schemes there is now extra funding set aside for female researchers, and in the selection of grant applicants, both funding bodies now also take into account potential gaps in the research career of applicants, which often are caused by the arrival of children (perhaps most astonishing is that this wasn’t the case just a few years ago).
The Government has also tasked the Australian Academy of Science to develop a Women in STEM Decadal Plan, a 10-year roadmap for sustained increases in women’s STEM participation (the plan is expected to be released in 2019).
An initiative developed in the UK and designed to promote greater gender equity in science, the Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network), has also made it to our shores. Its accreditation framework is currently piloted by the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) initiative), which focuses on the STEM fields as well as medicine. By joining SAGE Australian research institutions commit to a set of ten key principles that are to advance greater gender equity and diversity in the Australian higher education and research sector.
Run in a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, the SAGE pilot has previously been supported with $2 million from the Australian Government. In March, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews announced the government would provide a further $1.8 million to extend the program.
The funding was welcomed by SAGE executive director Dr Wafa El-Adhami, who said that across across the higher education and research sector SAGE members recognise that "changing behaviour requires collective commitment and sustained action”.
Minister Andrews also announced $1.5 million for a national digital awareness raising initiative that is to “heighten the visibility of girls and women in STEM and showcase the diverse opportunities STEM study and careers can provide”.