Zoe Askew
SOUTHERN Rural Water (SRW) embraced equity on International Women’s Day by employing a female-only recruitment campaign for their field-based roles.
SRW believes the more diverse the workforce, the more diverse the perspectives and solutions for tackling business challenges.
SRW general manager strategy, people and culture Elisa Hunter said the company has set diversity targets, and is consciously addressing underrepresentation in areas across the business.
“We want to boost the number of women in field roles and we’re implementing policies to drive this change,” Ms Hunter said.
“We know that gender stereotypes and unconscious gender bias can influence recruitment, promotion, and career progression for women.
“By removing bias from the recruitment process we’re creating the opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome – gender parity across our business.”
The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Victoria) has special measures that allow organisations to treat people differently in specific situations if the organisation is taking action to address genuine equality for disadvantaged groups.
Currently, low numbers of women occupy field-based roles at SRW and the special measures within the Act allows the organisation to positively address this.
“We’ve had a brilliant response to our recent recruitment campaign with more than 20 high-quality female candidates applying for our female-only field officer role,” Ms Hunter said.
“In comparison, we got three female applications in response to seven other field-based roles we’ve advertised over the past 12 months open to men and women.”
In 2022, SRW set up an internal gender equality working group to support its equity, diversity, and inclusion goals.
“As regulators of surface and groundwater, we provide fair, equitable and sustainable access to water resources,” Ms Hunter said.
“We believe the same should apply to professional opportunities for women.
“I’m proud to be leading change and creating a culture at Southern Rural Water that welcomes all voices – big and small – and celebrates diversity in all its forms.”
