It is a perfect storm. The 2 reports that have consumed and angered us this week can be conflated into one nasty and uncomfortable reality… in Australia there exists an acceptance of pervasive misogyny and toxic masculinity. We have on the one hand, a distinct lack of empathy from our political leaders and on the other, reports of private school boys degrading and denigrating women. And [...]
It’s great to see confirmation of what we have seen over the past 14 years in our executive mentoring programs - that even when the woman is the mentee, reverse mentoring occurs. We have seen significant changes in workplace practices in IT departments where CIO’s (mostly male) have mentored senior women in the Dell WITEM programs. The below article was published on The University of Michigan's [...]
A heartfelt congratulations to our WITEM mentee and mentor for their WIC 2020 Awards. There are times in life when it’s good to sit back and bask in the success of others. This is where I found myself as I saw the announcement of the WIC Winner of the WICked Woman of the Year Award for 2020 – Jade Carson from Department of Skills Education and [...]
This article appeared in Women's Agenda, you can read the original article here. A new study from the University of Melbourne has revealed that subconscious gender biases from a range of sources leads to unfavourable outcomes for female job applicants. The study was commissioned by UniBank with an aim to deepen understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) influences the likelihood of women being hired in finance industry roles. The findings revealed that gender [...]
Jenny Morris challenges the assertion "That advice to women to ‘lean in’, be more confident… doesn’t help". Would you tell a young girl or a young woman not to be confident? Not to believe in themselves? Not to try to be their best selves in whatever arena they choose to be in? I suspect your answer would be ‘no’. It seems to me that we are [...]
I often find it difficult to find the words to adequately explain the real power of our circles. This arrived in my inbox this morning, from a women in an Australian Government Department whose Mentoring Circle program has finished after 12 months. She describes her journey below. I hope it brings a smile to your face Testimonial from 'Liz, APS6, Canberra' The very first session I [...]
After a truly wonderful 8 years working across the APS I am very sad to say goodbye to the Women in IT Coaching Circles. Over this period I have had the privilege of experiencing, at a personal level, the quiet power that emerges when women support other women. I’ve seen women blossom, I’ve seen their confidence grow, I've seen them gain skills and grow their networks …all through [...]
The Australian Government Coaching Circles program has now come to a close and we would like to thank everyone who has been involved. This highly successful program ran from 2012 to 2020. It coached and mentored 537 participants and provided much-needed networking opportunities and career support for women in digital. The program was designed and delivered by Orijen and is an excellent example of an effective and [...]
I have long been passionate about the power of women coming together in closed, safe spaces – coaching or mentoring circles - where they could both learn from each other and contribute to the personal and professional growth of their peers. I have been facilitating such sessions for the past 10 years (well before ‘lean in’ circles were recognised, and Skype and Zoom came along). I [...]
Having worked with 2 very different cohorts of women in the last month - one with aspiring women politicians and the other with women in the Dept of Defence - I am more than ever of the belief that we need to expose the unwritten rules that form barriers to women’s advancement. I have seen a growing awareness as women progress their careers, that working harder [...]
