What Women have said helps them to succeed An evaluation of the women’s programs

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Project title Evaluating the effectiveness of support programs for academic women at the University of Wollongong, particularly in relation to promotion success

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 The Literature ■“It is critical to know that what we do adds value. Otherwise what is the point of doing it.” (Whitaker, 2007) ■It is a fact that women are more likely to begin their career without having completed a PhD (Carrington, 2003) ■Women with older children are most disadvantaged in terms of career progression to levels D & E (Probert, 2005) ■Literature supports the value of networks for women at all levels (Chesterman, 2004: McKenzie, 1995) ■Third party intervention in arranging mentors is often necessary (Ragins and Rose, 1996) ■A commitment at policy level, program support and a demonstrated culture of removing barriers to women progressing, are the key areas that must be present to support women in gaining promotion to senior positions (Winchester, 2006)

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Survey - demographics Respondent data: ■72 respondents ie. 21% of the target group ■Employed from 1 – 31years ■Employed at level A – E ■Full and part-time ■Teaching and research and research only ■All faculties and professional units represented

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Breakdown of the respondents ■45 (61%) had been promoted at UOW ■12 (17%) had been promoted more than once ■12 (17%) did not get promoted first time ■27 (39%) have not been promoted since working at UOW ■6 (8%) either came to the UOW as professors or applied for a professorial position through the recruitment ■6 (8%) have been at the UOW for less than 2 years therefore are less likely to have been eligible to apply for promotion ■For the purposes of data analysis only the the 12 listed in the last two points were removed

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Analysis of the women who have been promoted Of the 45 women who have been promoted: ■2 (4%) had not attended any programs offered ■12 (27%) attended Starting Your Academic Career (4.15 av rating) ■18 (40%) attended Jump Start Your Research Career (3.6 av rating) ■26 or 58% attended Tuning your Promotion Prospects (4.14 av rating) ■Nearly all women have attended a Linking Women Network event ■10 (22%) indicated they did not feel the need for this type of support ■10 (22%) indicated they did not have enough time to attend these programs ■Those women who did attend the programs – indicated the benefit in preparing for probation and promotion.

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 The role of mentoring for women promoted ■39 (87%) have or had a mentor – some more than one ■44 were male mentors ■35 were female mentors ■Most frequently mentors were: ▪Female colleague at UOW – 10 ▪Male supervisor at UOW – 9 ▪Male Head of School – 9 ▪Male Dean - 8

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Comments about mentors ■Helped me to get an objective view of the tasks ahead.. ■…suggested several ways to achieve my goals.. ■[encouraged me] to take up leadership opportunities… ■Encouraged me to go for promotion when I lacked the confidence to do so ■Support to set realistic goals… [provided] advice I can trust ■External mentor was really valuable in encouraging me to view situations from outside my singular point of reference. ■Raising the bar in terms of expectations

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Analysis of women who have not been promoted Of the 15 women who have not been promoted: ■4 (27%) had not attended any programs for women ■7 (47%) attended Starting Your Academic Career (4.2 av rating) ■7 (47%) attended Jump Start Your Research Career (3.7 av rating) ■4 (58%) attended Tuning your Promotion Prospects (3.7 av rating) ■Very small attendance at Linking Women Network events ■2 (13%) indicated they did not feel the need for this type of support ■7 (47%) indicated they did not have enough time to attend these programs

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 The role of mentoring for women not promoted ■7 (47%) have or had a mentor – some more than one ■10 were male mentors ■5 were female mentors ■Most frequently mentors were: ▪Male supervisor at UOW – 5 ▪Female supervisor at UOW - 3 ▪Male peer or colleague at another university – 2 Interesting comparisons when we look at the mentoring data for those who had succeeded in promotion (87% had mentors).

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Is there a gender equity gap at UOW? Q. In relation to career progression, do you believe there is a gender equity gap? ■8 (11%) said no ■38 (53%) said yes ■16 (22%) said not in my faculty ( represented 7 faculties) ■10 (14%) did not respond ■When the respondents were divided between those who were promoted and those who were not the following results emerged PromotedNot promoted 13% said no7% said no 58% said yes40% said yes 18% said not in my faculty33% said not in my faculty

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Comments about gender equity gap ■Men go for promotion earlier… there is a greater willingness to accept a diversity of approach and personality in men than in women… until women are successful ■I consider that male academics in my faculty are helped in ways that female academics are not. There is a network and it is easier for men to break into this network than women. ■When I first started working at UOW, the gender equity gap was enormous, being one of the few females in the dept. This has gradually changed… ■Not specifically, although men often have more time as many spend less time raising children, but the university seems to encourage women.

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Importance factors for success - ranked on a likhert scale of 1-5 Success FactorsCombined AveragePromotedNot promoted Personal determination PhD completion Successful grants Supportive leaders Time management Effective research part Funding to support women Strong mentor Workshops for women

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Suggestions for new programs ■I think the suite of programs offered is good. I am one of those hesitant to go to women only events… ■A proper mentoring program – where mentors are trained and workload is acknowledged ■I think there needs to be mid career program – developing leadership – could be workshops or a different form of mentoring ■I would suggest programs for Deans and leaders of research units to develop their skills in supporting women.

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 The most successful program Tuning Your Promotion Prospects has been the most successful program offered. Workshop participants Of the 65 women who by PODs records have attended the workshop since 2003, 24 (37%) have been promoted. Survey showed 26 (58%) out of 45 women who were promoted had attended the workshop.

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Other results ■The majority of women have attend one or more Linking Women Networks events and these are valued by most women for a range of reasons ■External programs such as those run by Universities Australia (previously AVCC) are highly valued ■The cost of running the programs is bringing return on investment.

Lynne Wright, Director EED July 2008 Where to from here? ■ Further input feedback ■ Program review in light of survey ■ Further ideas for new programs? ■ Mentoring – role of Deans and HOSs