The SAGE Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation recognises institutions’ commitment to advancing the careers of staff from diverse backgrounds and addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEMM. Achieving a bronze award requires institutions to conduct in-depth self-assessment of their structures, systems and culture to identify gender equity-related gaps and barriers, then propose a robust and measurable SAGE action plan to address these.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Bruce Dowton said the award is an internationally recognised acknowledgement of our ongoing commitment to progressing gender equity at the University.
“The accreditation process at Macquarie has been highly collaborative, involving colleagues across the University. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to achieving our SAGE Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation, and to the broader Macquarie community and industry partners for continued support to help close the gap,” he said.
Macquarie’s SAGE action plan has begun yielding positive results, including a redesign of the academic promotion process to make it more inclusive; piloting of innovative approaches to mitigate bias in STEMM, such as anonymised recruitment at long-listing stage; and increased representation of academic women in Engineering from 5% to 25% in just 18 months.
“We know that we need to be bold and innovative to create real change for equity, diversity and inclusion. Our focus is on addressing the causes of underrepresentation and inequality, not the symptoms,” said Professor Dowton. “We’re already seeing the impact of this approach and will continue to make it a key priority for our University.”
About SAGE
SAGE (Science in Australia Gender Equity) is a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, established to pilot an accreditation framework in Australian STEMM higher education and research institutes based on the UK’s Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) Charter.
