Today, and every day, we celebrate the inspiring female researchers, students and professional staff who work at The Kids Research Institute Australia, and the contribution they make to child health research in Australia.
One of our strategic priorities is to be a great place to work, and with more than 77% of our staff identifying as female women – that’s around 1,000 people – we’re working to ensure The Kids is a workplace that supports, encourages, and promotes women across both research and professional services, and at all levels.
To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, we caught up with some of our talented researchers and staff, to chat about the challenges women face in the workplace and discuss how those barriers could be broken down.
What is the importance of flexibility for women
Tess: I think flexibility is really important. People - especially women - have so many demands on their time: family, friends, work, and even if there's outward support for flexible work arrangements, when people actually take advantage of those flexible work arrangements, they're seen as potentially working less or not as hard. Even though they're meant to be trusted to use their time well so they can meet all of their demands.
Kaina: Flexibility also helps with work-life balance because you need to be in a good state of mind. You need to be healthy; you need to be well to actually perform the best at work. It improves morale, it improves productivity as well. So there are lots of benefits, not only for women but for the workplace as well.
Yael: I think flexibility is important for all genders. We need to just recognise that people aren't just their work, and that work is just a part of what people do in their lives. If we can flexibly allow people to accommodate work in the context of everything that they're doing, whether it's families or hobbies or other work outside of The Kids - it just makes people more well-rounded and balanced, and flexibility is key for that.
Why do there need to be more opportunities for women in the workplace?
Yael: Unfortunately, there’s not enough time to take up every single opportunity that presents, but perhaps women don’t need more opportunities to sit on committees and engage in unpaid labour. We need more opportunities to progress our careers, and support for childcare that allows us to do this. Perhaps we just need to think more strategically about the kinds of opportunities that women get in the workplace
Tess: I don't know if it's actually so much a question of why do there need to be more, but rather are they the right opportunities? Are they actually achieving what we want them to achieve, are they a tick box thing that is not actually progressing people forwards?
Kaina: I agree with you, Tess. I don't think it should be about how many opportunities we've got. It should be more about the right kind. Are they actually beneficial to the people in the workplace?
What can leaders do to support women at work?
Alma: I think the first thing leaders can do is listen and ask women and men and everyone in the workplace, what they need in order for them to be able to perform at their best.
Clare: One thing I really love is mentoring and sponsorship, so I feel that you've got to have that person in your corner that's backing you and to have that mentoring and sponsor role - It just makes such a difference for you in the workplace.
Tess: I think one that is really important, is to actually make sure that the leaders who are in charge of making decisions are thinking through the decisions they're making and examining any unconscious bias they might have and how that influences their management style - especially when it comes to women. Making sure there are no knee-jerk reactions based on arbitrary kinds of things.
Tess Fletcher is a PhD student under the Early Neurodevelopment and Mental Health team, Alma Fulurija is the program lead of the Australian Strep A Vaccine Initiative, Kaina Salivaji is The Kids Research Institute Australia's Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Advisor, Clare Berry is the Executive Projects Manager, and Yael Perry is co-lead of the Youth Mental Health team.