Women in spatial SSSI report 2012

It is surprising to see in Australia the lack of female representation in the spatial industry. This observation was supported when the Spatial Sciences Institute in Australia (SSI) and New Zealand ran a survey in 2006 to investigate this issue. The Women in Spatial (WIS) initiative was formed by the SSI after the survey was analysed and reported in 2007. WIS has been active across Australia and New Zealand since its inception but we needed to know if the initiative has had any influence on the numbers of women and their working conditions in the industry. Also since the SSI became the SSSI adding the surveying community to the institute we need to determine what if any changes had occurred. To try to identify any changes a further survey was conducted in 2011. Issues such as age profile, wage trends and interrupted careers were covered by both surveys. This paper describes the outcomes of this follow-up survey conducted by the SSSI WIS subcommittee to consolidate the 2006 findings. The survey was open to women throughout Australia and New Zealand during September 2011. Participation was invited to members and non-members of the SSSI with an encouraging increased number of responses received. The paper compares the findings from this recent survey with the findings from the survey conducted in 2006 and discusses the issues which are still facing women in the spatial industry in Australia and New Zealand.

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