QUT an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality

QUT has been recognised for its commitment to gender equity with an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation from the Federal Government Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

QUT is among a handful of universities to receive this recognition since it began in 2002, known then as the Employer of Choice for Women.

Criteria for the citation cover aspects of gender equity in the organisation such as leadership, learning and development, gender remuneration gaps, flexible working and other initiatives to support family responsibilities, employee consultation, preventing sex-based harassment and discrimination, and targets for improving gender equality outcomes.

QUT Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Margaret Sheil said it was pleasing to receive the award again, and a key measure of the university’s progress was increasing the proportion of senior staff who are female – currently at 42 per cent.

“Our aim is to move this towards parity as soon as possible,” Professor Sheil said.

“QUT has a long-term commitment to equal opportunity for women with formal programs in place.

“An area of strong focus currently is the STEMM disciplines, and identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement to ensure there are no barriers and biases to women’s full participation in STEMM.

“Removing biases and barriers in this area and across the board means tackling procedures and practices, organisational culture, and achieving genuine inclusion.

“This EOCGE award tells us we are heading in the right direction and we are committed to that continuing.”

Postdoctoral research fellow with QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation Dr Elke Hacker, whose work focuses on skin cancer prevention and assessing new technologies such as software apps, sunscreen indicator patches and personal UV detectors, joined the university in 2009.

QUT researcher Dr Elke Hacker.

She said QUT’s support and provision of flexible working hours had enabled her to balance the demands of family and her research.

“I have two small children and as they’ve grown and their needs have changed, with kindergarten and school schedules and obligations, I’ve been able to adapt, with the help of an accommodating partner, work from home as needed, and continue my research,” Dr Hacker said.

“I would have struggled to continue without that flexibility.

“Being able to work flexible hours at night has also been helpful with connecting with overseas collaborators who are on the opposite time zone.

“We have large collaborations in the US and Canada, so I can log on in the evenings at home for meetings. The workplace flexibility really has enabled me to conduct world-class research at that global scale.

“I also currently supervise a mature age PhD student and mother of three, which also works well with the flexibility to work from home and connect through online meetings.”

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