Western Sydney University has been awarded a SAGE Athena Swan Silver Award, capping a ten-year journey with SAGE and recognising its action and progress in addressing barriers to gender equity, diversity and inclusion (GEDI) across the University.
Dr Janin Bredehoeft, CEO of SAGE, congratulated Western Sydney University on the achievement:
“Western Sydney University’s Silver Award reflects ten years of well-evidenced work turning gender equity commitments into action and real outcomes for staff. Its decasualisation program and Indigenous Strategy stand out as strong examples of what genuine institutional commitment to GEDI and systemic cultural change looks like.”
Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor and President, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO, said the University was proud to celebrate this milestone.
“This prestigious recognition is a testament to the collective efforts of the entire University community. It represents our ongoing commitment to breaking down barriers and taking meaningful action. We should all be proud knowing that our consistent and purposeful approach is creating real impact across the University.”
The University has made substantial progress and measurable impact across each of its five Bronze Cygnet areas; flexible work, academic promotions, Indigenous advancement, gender equity in COVID-19 response, and support for parents and carers.
Sector leadership in Indigenous employment
With the aim to be a national leader in Indigenous employment, the University implemented its first Indigenous Strategy (2020–2025) and the sector’s first Indigenous Futures Decadal Strategy (2023–2032). An Enterprise Agreement commitment to employ 77 ongoing and fixed-term Indigenous employees was achieved early, and the University’s Indigenous staff representation now sits at 3.4%. The largest jump was seen with Level D academics and above, growing from two to nine. These achievements complement the University’s recent milestone of 1,000 Indigenous student enrolments in the 2026 academic year.
Eighty-eight per cent of Indigenous staff report seeing meaningful progress in advancing Indigenous priorities at Western, and 100% agree that “Indigenous excellence is more visible”. As one Indigenous staff member expressed:
“The Indigenous Strategy has been a driving force to not just bring Indigenous staff together but to set a common mission for the entire University. It has changed the fabric of how Indigenous business is done at Western, both now and into the future.”
The Western SAGE team’s Indigenous-led and culturally informed research named clear areas for future action, including continuing to increase Indigenous employment, improving the consistency of experiences across the University, and improving non-Indigenous staff’s engagement with Indigenous priorities.
Addressing gender equity in academia and STEM
The University conducted in-depth research, consolidated policies, and expanded support for promotion applicants, with the aim of increasing staff confidence in the promotion process and making decision-making more transparent. These innovations have already seen progress.
Women now apply for promotion at equal rates to men and succeed on par or higher at every academic level, including for STEMM women at Levels C (Senior Lecturer) and E (Professor).
Consistent and inclusive work practices
During COVID-19 disruption, the University saw disproportionate impacts for women, casual staff, Indigenous staff, and parents and carers, and took deliberate and targeted action.
The University led a Joint Sector Position Statement to protect gender equity across the higher education sector and enhanced job security for casual staff through pay protection and a large-scale Academic Decasualisation Program.
Within the decasualisation program, Western appointed 159 casual staff to ongoing Level A positions to a total of 151.1 full-time equivalent staff, making it the largest program of its kind in the sector. Just over 60% of decasualised appointments were women and 6% were Indigenous staff.
An embedded right to request remote work (enshrined in Enterprise Agreements), awareness campaigns and educational resources have increased the visibility of working fathers and flexible work arrangement policies. Since these were introduced, staff have reported a 37% increase in awareness of flexible work entitlements, a 35% lift in perceptions of gender-equitability among male parents, and a four-fold rise in men’s paid parental leave uptake.
“Flexible work matters to me because parenting, being a parent, being a father, is a huge part of my life. It’s fundamental, and my work is important as well. I don’t see why one should outweigh the other, and it’s a win-win,” commented a male professional staff member and parent.
Next on the agenda
The Silver Award also marks a shift into a new phase of work. Western’s Silver Cygnet Framework (2026–2032) focuses on driving further progress across five priority areas: career planning for academic staff, career planning for professional staff, an intersectional focus on women, trans and gender diverse staff in STEM, decasualisation, and Indigenous staff. Each responds to gaps identified by comprehensive organisational research and staff engagement undertaken by the Western SAGE team.
SAGE congratulates Western Sydney University on its Athena Swan Silver Award and looks forward to following its progress across the Silver SAGE Cygnet Awards in the years ahead.
About the SAGE Athena Swan Silver Award
The SAGE Athena Swan Silver Award is a prestigious, international accreditation recognising an institution’s progress towards gender equity, diversity and inclusion.
This Silver accreditation honours an organisation’s demonstrated commitment to honest engagement in identifying problems and, most importantly, taking action through multiple evidence-based initiatives to dismantle barriers to GEDI.
The Silver Award represents a milestone in development and progress towards GEDI and commitment to continuing this work.
Western Sydney University has completed five SAGE Cygnet Awards in the lead-up to this latest award. You can find their related case study summaries here as well as their Silver Award Application here.
About SAGE
SAGE drives systemic change in gender equity, diversity and inclusion across the tertiary education and STEMM research sectors. The SAGE Athena Swan program is Australia’s only internationally recognised, evidence-based, tailored workplace accreditation program that supports, advises and guides tertiary education and research institutions to build their skills and deliver meaningful and sustained action that moves the dial on gender equity, diversity and inclusion.
