WOMEN are under-represented in leadership positions across just about all sectors of the paid workforce.
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Thirty-one per cent of federal parliamentarians are women, while a 2010 survey revealed women held just 8 per cent of board directorships.
But one expert hopes to tackle these trends with a women’s leadership program that will make its regional debut in Bendigo this month.
Fabian Dattner said the development of a health precinct around the hospital and the accompanying opportunities for growth made Bendigo the logical first step into regional expansion for the Compass program, following five years of operation in capital cities.
But Ms Dattner said the program was not only for women in business - it was aimed at equipping all women, whether they were a business owner or a stay at home mother, with skills to effect the change they wanted to see in their communities.
Research commissioned by Women’s Health Loddon Mallee found wider trends were reflected locally, with women facing particular difficulties moving to flagship appointments of chief executive officer or chair from other executive roles.
The Compass program has been brought to Bendigo with the help of the Bendigo Business Council and women’s website beStella.
After more than a decade of working with Ms Dattner, Bendigo Business Council chief executive officer Lead Sertori said the skills she had learnt were of value to a wide range of people.
“But the reason I think it’s important to have a women-only leadership program is to be able to get into the details of the barriers to women’s leadership, of which there are many in this region,” Ms Sertori said.
She cited the men-only Sandhurst Club as an example of the types of barriers that exist to women accessing networking and other opportunities.
beStella founder Kendyl Hopley recently completed the program and wanted to provide women in regional and rural areas with the same opportunity for development.
Ms Hopley said it was important to upskill women and promote them to more leadership roles for the broad range of skills they could bring to the table.
The regional expansion of the Compass program comes ahead of a nearly all-women expedition to Antarctica later this year that Ms Dattner has conceived to foster leadership skills in women in the sciences.
For more information on the Compass program visit the Dattner Grant website.