Swinburne employer of choice for women

Due to its family-friendly work conditions, Swinburne University of Technology has been recognised as an Employer of Choice for Women by the Federal Government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).

In an announcement made yesterday by the Minister for Women Tanya Plibersek Swinburne was acknowledged with an Employer of Choice for Women (EOCFW) citation.

Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young said that receiving the citation for the fourth year running was a significant achievement for Swinburne.  

"The citation is a wonderful recognition of the extensive range of measures that the university has put in place to ensure a working environment which supports women to achieve their full potential." 

A few examples of Swinburne’s equal opportunity initiatives and achievements in the past year include: 

• The piloting of gender diversity program ‘My Mentor’. The self-paced program aims to develop women and educate leaders about gender diversity. A group of 25 women and 20 men are participating in the Swinburne pilot.
  
  
• Swinburne winning the 2009 Victorian Training Initiative of the Year for its Young Mums/Childcare Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL).  This program enables young mums to continue their education through TAFE and bring their babies to class.
  
  
• An increase in the number of women promoted to senior and executive management positions.  Forty-four per cent of newly appointed/promoted senior managers were female and 65 per cent of newly appointed/promoted line managers were female.

These improvements complement Swinburne’s existing flexible conditions, which include 14 weeks maternity leave on full pay with an additional 38 weeks on 60 per cent pay, partner leave for same-sex couples, paid adoption and foster parent leave and unpaid child rearing leave.

There were 95 organisations across Australia that received a 2010 EOCFW citation. To receive it organisations must demonstrate that they have policies and practices that support women and that they have had a positive outcome for both women and the business. 

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