Adjust font size:

Women of Influence Initiative

In November 2004, the Hon John Anderson MP, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, and the Regional Women's Advisory Council agreed that there was a need to increase women's participation in regional and rural decision making especially within organisations in the formal rural industry and regional development sectors. Timing was right to re-examine women's representation in rural and regional Australia as the nation addressed issues of intergenerational change, increased international competitiveness and skills shortages.

As part of its work the Council developed a 'women of influence' initiative which aimed to:

• take stock of the current level of women's representation on rural industry boards, and other formal boards and committees which have an impact or influence on rural and regional communities; and
• suggest strategies for increasing women's representation and supporting women leaders to increase their influence in business and communities.

The project involved a number of parallel activities which included:

• preliminary research on the current level of women's representation and evidence for trends where possible;
• a forum in May 2005 involving 20 women leaders in business and industry to advise on strategies for expanding women's representation;
• advice from researchers with expertise in rural women and decision-making;
• feedback from women's networks and from community representatives, including Indigenous women; and
• a dinner for rural industry and business leaders in Canberra on 14 June 2005, hosted by the Hon John Anderson MP, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services.

A Snapshot of Women's Representation on Selected Regional Bodies

This report [PDF: 735 KB] gives a snapshot of the numbers of women on a sample of rural industry boards, and other organisations and committees, which have an impact or influence on regional industries and communities. The data includes local government.

It shows that women in rural and regional Australia are considerably under-represented in decision-making and management roles. If Australian companies and rural industries are to improve innovation and productivity in a competitive international market more women need to be included in decision-making.

'Women of Influence' forum

On 8-9 May 2005, a forum involving 20 women leaders in business and industry met to advise on strategies for expanding women's representation. This forum brought together a small number of influential and expert women from corporate Australia to discuss women's representation on rural industry boards and other regional development bodies. The key recommendation from this forum was that the government should hold an inquiry into women's representation in rural and regional Australia.

The chief executive women present also suggested a range of strategies in relation to appointment processes, finding the right women, growing talent, engaging corporate men in tackling the issue of women's representation, success factors for women of boards and a series of key messages for women, boards/organization recruiters, government and regional communities. Participants also agreed that it would be important to acknowledge Indigenous women in any evaluation of women in leadership.

Researchers' forum

The report A Snapshot of Women's Representation on Selected Regional Bodies [PDF: 735 KB] was presented at a researchers' forum held on 17-18 May 2005 which brought together a small number of academics and other rural researchers with expertise in rural women and decision-making to discuss and contribute to recommendations for increasing women's representation on rural industry boards and other regional development bodies.

The forum provided the opportunity for researchers to share their knowledge and to reenergise discussion on increasing women's representation in decision making bodies. An overview of research that has been done by these researchers relating to women's representation can be downloaded [DOC: 561 KB] as Microsoft Word document along with the report [DOC: 348 KB] from the forum itself.