Leadership programs to address lack of diverse female leaders

Loading

Ms Braid completed a Bachelor of Arts in Aboriginal Policy after becoming a sole parent. “I had a really good career adviser at Centrelink who said ‘Why don’t you go to university?’,” she said.

She went on to work as a project manager at the Indigenous Land Corporation and roles with AFL SportsReady, Red Dust Role Models, National Indigenous Pastoral Enterprises and the federal public service.

“My manager when I worked for the Commonwealth Government was really supportive about me getting some leadership courses under my belt,” Ms Braid said. “They gave me study time and partly funded my Masters (of management), so it made it just a bit more affordable.”

Ms Braid recently participated in ECHO (Elevating Connections, Healing Ourselves), a Victorian First Nations women’s pilot leadership program.

She said she learned a lot from hearing other women’s stories about what had and hadn’t worked in their businesses.

Loading

“I’ve always wanted to have my own bush food business and after being at the ECHO forum I’m even more determined that that’s where I’ll be in five years.”

The president of Chief Executive Women, Sam Mostyn, said a diversity of women should be represented at all decision-making tables.

Chief Executive Women, in partnership with Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation, is offering up to three scholarships to Harvard Kennedy School for rising and mid-career women leaders of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage.

Diversity Council Australia CEO Lisa Annese said affirmative action plans had traditionally benefited a narrow group of women from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds.

Ms Annese said organisations needed to look at how they recruited, how they identified and promoted talent, and their own culture.

“It’s great to invest in individuals and whilst that can help them build their own capability, unless you actually invest in activities that shift the system, they will always be leaning into a biased system and therefore, there’ll be up against it,” she said.

Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.