La Trobe University has been recognised with a SAGE Cygnet Award for its work to encourage gender equity and improve the support it provides to parents and carers.
Policy and cultural change, with extra supports
La Trobe’s actions focused on providing funding and career supports for those with caring responsibilities, and building policy and cultural change for those taking leave.
Policy actions included improving parental leave, gender equity, and breastfeeding/chestfeeding policies, while encourgaing men to take parental leave and flexible work through cultural change campaigns.
“I felt a bit guilty for not being [in the office] in the first six months, but the new Enterprise Agreement entitlements completely changed that narrative”, said one staff member.
Funding and career supports included creating a Carers Conference and Travel Fund, which enabled 31 researchers (29 women, 2 men) to attend conferences and conduct fieldwork. The introduction of the Tracey Banivanua Marr Fellowships provided $4m in funding for 13 casual and fixed-term researchers to mitigate career interruptions.
“Fundamental to who we are”
Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell said the award reflected the University’s work to address key barriers to attraction, retention and career progression for women and gender-diverse staff.
“Embedding equity, diversity and inclusion across the University is fundamental to who we are at La Trobe, reflecting our mission and cultural values,” Professor Farrell said.
We have a roadmap to apply for the remaining three SAGE Cygnet Awards, which will guide us in measuring our progress in addressing systemic barriers faced by staff at the University, and to promote a positive and supportive workplace.”
“A long-term impact”
SAGE CEO Dr Janin Bredehoeft said La Trobe University’s second Cygnet Award demonstrated a deep commitment to creating a more equitable, inclusive workplace for parents and carers.
“I would like to particularly highlight La Trobe’s determination to embed structural supports for parents and carers by introducing new entitlements in the 2023 Enterprise Agreement,” Dr Bredehoeft said.
“This is the kind of systemic change that will make a long-term impact.”
Find out more
This is La Trobe University‘s second SAGE Cygnet Award, which builds on the work they did to achieve Athena Swan Bronze accreditation.
Access this downloadable PDF summary of their progress and impact to find out all about the barrier they were tackling, their actions, outcomes, impacts and next steps.
You can also read their full Cygnet Award application for all the details on what they did.
