Gender Action Toolkit to assist with gender diversity journey

Drawing on its own experience, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) has developed a Gender Action Toolkit to assist other groups with its gender and diversity journey.

Publicly available online, the toolkit consists of a compilation of resources that provide guidance about how to achieve gender equality within disciplines or organisations. The toolkit includes a number of valuable tools and policies that can be used as a reference, including CAASTRO’s Gender Diversity Policy that outlines how CAASTRO supports gender equality and a flexible workplace.

Included in the toolkit is a case study, CAASTRO’s Path to Gender Equality: How one question changed everything. Back in 2010, the original proposal to establish an ARC Centre of Excellence in All-sky Astrophysics reflected Australian astronomy’s under-representation of women at senior levels—in the field of astronomy, as a whole, women made up less than 20 per cent of the paid workforce. This showed no signs of improving without intervention and change. Since then, many actions have been progressed by the Centre of Excellence to address the gender imbalance, and these have now had an impact that extend far beyond the one Centre.

After CAASTRO finishes, this toolkit will transition to the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (CAASTRO-3D), and will be developed further as part of the CAASTRO-3D gender equity and diversity program.

	While the ARC has acknowledged the significant issue of underrepresentation of women in the Australian research sector through its Statement of Support and Expectations for Gender Equality and Gender Equality Action Plan, there is also excellent work being undertaken by ARC-funded researchers and centres to address gender equality.

 

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