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With a range of skills and experiences, people with disability represent one of Australia's greatest under-represented talent pools. This report argues that a new approach is needed to break down the barriers for people with disability, and to increase their role and advancement in the workplace. In late 2022, BCA surveyed its members to generate information on existing strategies and activities by members covering recruitment, retention and advancement of people with disability. The scoping survey has provided valuable insight into: foundational practices members are taking, including by way of commitments and accountability; emerging trends, including practices to support workplace culture and inclusion; and imperatives for success where the focus has shifted from attraction and recruitment to a focus on engagement and development. This report presents the key findings across these domains and best practice case studies to assist members to drive further gains in employment outcomes.

From the findings, BCA has developed these seven factors for success: (1) implement workplace adjustment to recruit and retain employees with disability; (2) develop or review discrete and identifiable Disability Recruitment, Retention and Career Development Strategies; (3) establish senior leadership group to drive and monitor progress; (4) develop an employee reference group that meets with senior leadership quarterly; (5) implement disability confidence training particularly to middle management levels; (6) examine talent identification and career pathway to support career advancement opportunities for people with disability; and (7) create regular stories about disability employment success on internal and external communication platforms.

Edited excerpts from publication and publisher's website. Show less

A narrative literature review was conducted with the intention of providing practitioners with foundational knowledge regarding the career development trajectory of persons with disabilities (PWD). The author selected scholarship from various disciplines including rehabilitation, psychology, and special education. In the article, the author provides an overview of career development barriers and facilitators for PWD, provides a review of self-determination theory as a framework that can be used alongside other career development interventions with PWD, discusses career development interventions that have been identified as effective with PWD within vocational rehabilitation, and lastly, provides recommendations for career intervention outcomes and research.

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This report describes strategies for counteracting early sex-role stereotyping and its effects in narrowing young women's subject options and career choices. The project was designed to assess the potential of methods based on personal construct psychology for promoting the personal development and wider social participation of young women and girls. It aimed to extend the principles and ideas underpinning a staff development model for use in raising the awareness of youth and community workers engaged in work with girls, and to make a preliminary assessment of their applications in more formal educational settings of further education and school. The model has three stages: (1) exploration of attitudes and personal constructs; (2) recording and observation in the organisational setting; and (3) identification and development of specific skills needed to work effectively with girls. Show less

Funded by the European Union and partially implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Government of Malawi, the Skills and Technical Education Programme (STEP) is dedicated to reinforcing technical, entrepreneurial and vocational education and training (TEVET) in Malawi. The programme will run from 2016-2020 and aims to improve TEVET at post-secondary level with a focus on: equal access to enrolment, with particular focus on female learners; improving quality in the sector; and establishment of clear governance structures.

In the Malawian context, career guidance and counselling (G&C) can play an important role in supporting the transition from school to career or tertiary education, keeping girls and vulnerable students in school, and addressing negative stereotypes of technical trades as well as encouraging young women to enter into technical trades. However, relatively little has been done to run G&C services in a comprehensive manner. The objective of this report is to identify and review existing career G&C programmes and practices in secondary schools in Malawi. The review assesses to what extent such programmes and practices create an awareness of the importance of technical careers and how graduates from the secondary schools can access TEVET. Additionally, it assesses whether any affirmative action measures or approaches are used to increase girls' interest in and applications to enter technical colleges.

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The Social Market Foundation (2017) found that the profile of jobs in the UK is changing and roles which require Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills will rise at twice the rate of other occupations between now and 2023, creating a particular demand for graduate level STEM skills. STEM graduates are already in short supply and the number of students taking STEM-related courses decreases as students progress through the educational pipeline. Female students are much less likely than their male counterparts to take A levels in certain STEM subjects. This is problematic for gender equality but also limits the UK's capacity to address the growing national STEM skills shortage. This research was commissioned to design and test the effectiveness of two sets of interventions based on behavioural insights theory, to increase the number of high-achieving female students choosing STEM subjects at A Level and who would go on to be eligible to apply to STEM degrees or career paths.

The principle mechanism by which the interventions sought to increase uptake of STEM A Levels was by improving perceptions of STEM's utility - this was the target of the parent-focused intervention, as well as two of the three student-focused intervention exercises. The secondary mechanism was designed to improve students' self-concept and expectations of success in STEM. These interventions were based on insights from a rapid review of relevant academic research in the fields of psychology and behavioural science. The primary evaluation compared students' responses before and after taking part in the interventions (Pre-Post study design).

The key findings after the interventions, as compared to before, are that high-achieving girls: (1) were more likely to state the intention to study two or more STEM A Levels, and this positive change was greater in schools that also received the parent-focused intervention; (2) were more confident that they could apply the material they learned in maths or science class to real life; (3) were slightly less confident in their ability to learn the material they covered in maths or science and that they could be successful in these subjects; and (4) were less likely to report having discussed the importance of maths or science with their parents in the previous month. Students who received the parent-focused activities showed an increased likelihood of discussing A Level choices with their parent or guardian, relative to those who received the classroom-focused activities only. However, without a robust control group, it is difficult to be certain of what would have happened in the absence of the interventions. Therefore, the effectiveness of the interventions remains uncertain. The report also seeks to make recommendations based on the efficacy of the interventions to inform further research and more broadly, to help develop targeted actions to improve diversity in STEM participation.

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This report is part of a project that has been funded by economicSecurity4Women (eS4W). Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) was contracted to undertake the investigation and materials production that will inform an advocacy campaign. It aims to build a map of potentially viable work for Australian women by identifying industries and occupations with viable career pathways - work that is emergent and falls in identified areas of existing and/or potential skills shortages. It includes work in non-traditional male-dominated fields, where the existing participation of women workers remains at a very low ratio. The aim of mapping and investigating this topic is to provide a foundation from which to devise strategies to identify and target areas where initiatives for women and girls can be implemented to increase and support their engagement and inclusion in industries and occupations that offer career paths, sustainable employment, transferable skills and financial benefits.

Excerpt from publication.

The report covers: (1) an introduction to viability indicators; (2) the mapping approach; (3) the findings and discussion around the following areas: viable work for women and girls; women's participation in skills shortage and job growth areas; the greem economy; and promoting careers in trades to girls and women; (4) examples of best practice: gender sensitive programs and successful strategies for women in emergent and non-traditional areas of work; (5) strategies to attract women and girls to emergent and non-traditional occupations and industries; (6) policy action for improved viable employment for women; (7) recommendations for action; and (8) project products. Show less

We examine gender differences in career progression and promotions in central banking, a stereotypical male-dominated occupation, using confidential anonymized personnel data from the European Central Bank (ECB) during the period 2003-2017. A wage gap emerges between men and women within a few years of hiring, despite broadly similar entry conditions in terms of salary levels and other observables. We also find that women are less likely to be promoted to a higher salary band up until 2010 when the ECB issued a public statement supporting diversity and took several measures to support gender balance. Following this change, the promotion gap disappears. The gender promotion gap prior to this policy change is partly driven by the presence of children. Using 2012-2017 data on promotion applications and decisions, we explore the promotion process in depth, and confirm that during this most recent period women are as likely to be promoted as men. This results from a lower probability of women to apply for promotion, combined with a higher probability of women to be selected conditional on having applied. Following promotion, women perform better in terms of salary progression, suggesting that the higher probability to be selected is based on merit, not positive discrimination.

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This paper reviews some of the extant research on unconscious (or implicit) bias, a term that refers to cognitive errors in the way humans process information about themselves and others based on stereotypic assumptions about social groups. Unconscious bias arises from the mere existence of group stereotypes and can lead to errors in judgment and decision-making that may unwittingly and unintentionally conflict with one's explicit and consciously held beliefs. We discuss how cultural stereotypes about men and women give rise to unconscious gender bias and how this bias systematically constrains opportunities for women's career advancement in organizations, particularly in taking up top leadership positions and in fields historically dominated by men such as the sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). We conclude with a review of interventions that appear to be successful in mitigating the negative impact of unconscious gender bias on women in hiring and performance rewards. The discussion includes the description of one controlled study that approached unconscious gender bias as a remediable habit and was successful in helping faculty at one large university break the bias habit with improvements in department climate for all faculty.

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Australian TAFEs and universities have been keen to increase the access to an increasingly diverse range of students, known as equity students. This Fellowship concentrates on one of these groups: the equity group of students with disability. The Fellowship provided a great opportunity to investigate the reasons behind lower employment rates for young adult students with disability upon graduation from their post-compulsory education course. The countries of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England were visited during this Fellowship. These countries have faced similar challenges to Australia in the historical mistreatment of individuals with disability with segregated housing, a lack of autonomy and decision making and a charity model of care (Barton, 2017). However, there has been a strong movement of Disability Rights throughout Ireland and UK to address the discrimination and actively promote inclusion for people with disability in all areas of life.

By exploring best practice examples of peer, educational and industry mentoring programs across the globe, the intention of this Fellowship is to create a series of online learning modules, which are co-created with students with disability at Victoria University. The modules are designed to provide students with disability additional information to build their interviewing and networking skills. These learning modules will be located and accessible to all students, using the Universal Design principles for Learning. The online modules will then be evaluated by a group of teaching staff and students with disability and shared with Accessibility Services, Careers services and gradWISE (external employment provider) in order to build sustainable support for students with disability to build their confidence and employability skills before graduating. The time constraints of this Fellowship meant that further research is needed to explore the experiences of employers and the barriers and perceptions they have of potential employees who are disabled.

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In US companies, the top circles of leadership remain male bastions with women making up just 14 per cent of Fortune 500 executive committees, and there are few women [chief executive officers] CEOs. Based on an in-depth investigation of 60 companies, this research reveals that many organisations are closer to unlocking the full potential of women at work than the aggregate numbers indicate. Show less