We meet with senior management and Boards to discuss gender issues relevant to employment of male and female staff. We present the latest research results on gender diversity and recommend strategies and actions to increase gender equity in an organisation. We specialise in gender topics relevant to women working in male-dominated organisations.

Some areas for discussion include:

• common beliefs about gender issues within your organisation
• the written and unwritten rules of your organisation
• the impact of systemic or occasional gender bias and resulting behaviour on your recruitment, promotion and performance review processes
• effective ways to challenge existing corporate culture and bring about change for the benefit of your employees and your organisation
• methods of assessing your organisation’s progress towards attaining integrated gender diversity across all its operations.

In Universities, we discuss gender issues relevant to staff performance and career development, and issues relevant to teaching and learning in the classroom.

We make presentations to management, staff and female staff networks on the benefits of gender equity and diversity and the many related issues. We run workshops for staff to address these issues and to develop new insights and skills.

In our presentations, we describe the magnitude of the gender problem in Australian organisations, we cover leadership issues for men and women, we present insights into gender issues and we recommend models which are useful for understanding and analysing the progression of women’s careers. We discuss gender topics relevant to women working in male-dominated organisations and present unique information on the “organisational game” all employees are playing (whether they are aware of it or not) merely by being employed.

In particular, we cover topic areas such as:

• common beliefs about gender issues within organisations — and their veracity
• male/female differences in decision making, communication and assertiveness
• leadership, including an ineffective model of leadership common in male-run organisations and an effective leadership model for women
• why employees are players of an organisational game
• how employees can read the game and play it better — if they choose to
• a unique and useful model for career development of women.

In our workshops, we cover the above issues in more detail and discuss additional subjects such as:

• cognitive bias, both conscious and unconscious
• influencing techniques useful to employees
• the benefits of networking both inside and outside an organisation.

The output of these workshops is a tool for both immediate and future use by participants for enhancing the development of their careers.

Recent Interview

In late 2012, Mark made a presentation in Melbourne to members of the National Association of Women in Operations, and was interviewed afterwards. To listen to the 8 minute interview, click here.

Recent Workshop

In May 2013 Gunilla and Mark ran a public one-day workshop entitled "For Women: A Unique Approach to Career Development" in Melbourne. Similar workshops are planned for later this year in other cities.

Typical gender issues raised by female participants in Gender Matters’ workshops are:

• being too modest about their skills and experience in the company of male colleagues
• how to handle career interruptions, e.g. to have children
• how to manage men in their team who are older than them
• how assertive should they be at work in the company of men
• how to handle situations where less competent men are promoted ahead of them
• what to do about unequal salaries between men and women for the same roles
• how to develop their careers in male-dominated organisations
• how to handle the "double burden" of managing a career and home life
• whether to stay in a current role through loyalty to colleagues or accept a promotion
• how to handle unconscious bias in others.

These issues are discussed in our workshops and various approaches and actions are recommended to deal with them.

Gender Matters’ view on gender bias is that conscious bias needs to be addressed, and whilst some organisations are offering unconscious bias training to their staff, few (if any) are tackling the much more difficult subject of conscious bias.

Our workshop participants usually work in organisations where there are many more men than women at their own organisational level and far more men in management above them. We believe it's time for organisations to take the above issues more seriously to make gender equity a cornerstone of their corporate culture.

Gunilla's and Mark's publications

Why Not Adress Conscious Bias?, Letter to the Australian Financial Review, 27 March 2013 p. 35	[ PDF 870kb ]
Audio Recording: Mark interviewed at a meeting of the National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO), November 2012	[ MP3 3.7Mb ]
Women Need to Understand the Corporate Game, Focus Magazine, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering 171 April 2012 pp. 13,15	[ PDF 360kb ]
Enhancing Women’s Career Prospects, Australasian Science, April 2012 p. 41	[ PDF 530kb ]
The Business Case For Workforce Diversity, Engineers Australia Magazine, July 2009 p. 61	[ PDF 660kb ]
Attracting More Women Into The Profession, Engineers Australia Magazine, February 2007 pp. 26-27	[ DOCX 350kb ]
The Women in Engineering Movement in Australia, Engineers Australia website, 2007	[ PDF 290kb ]
A New Argument for More Women in Engineering, Engineers Australia Magazine, October 2006 pp. 62-64	[ PDF 110kb ]
Balanced Decision Making: A New Argument for More Women in Engineering, Engineers Australia Centre for Engineering Leadership Conference, Melbourne 2006	[ PDF 90kb ]
Choosing Engineering, and Its Influence On Classroom Dynamics, 3th ASEE Colloquium on Engineering Education, Beijing, China 2004	[ PDF 130kb ]
Gender Experiences in an Engineering Classroom, 15th Annual Conference, Australasian Association for Engineering Education, Toowoomba, Australia 2004	[ PDF 140kb ]
Student Perceptions of Gendered Language in an Engineering Classroom, 14th Annual Conference, Australasian Association for Engineering Education, Melbourne 2003	[ PDF 140kb ]
Gender Dynamics in an Engineering Classroom: Engineering Students’ Perspective, MPhil thesis, University of Newcastle 2001	[ PDF 890kb ]

Gunilla Burrowes

Gunilla Burrowes has had a diverse career, working in a range of industry and academic positions. She is a past Division President and National Vice-President of Engineers Australia (EA), has sat on numerous committees and boards, and is Deputy Chair of both Australian Science Innovations and Engineers Media. She established and ran the Hunter Branch of Females in Information Technology & Telecommunications, managed a Women in Engineering program at the University of Newcastle and was an instigator of Engineers Australia's very successful themed year — 2007 The Year of Women in Engineering. Her research and prominent role in diversity in engineering and gender-inclusive engineering education has given her an international reputation in this field.

For further details, click here.

Mark Toner

Dr Mark Toner is a former CEO of Kvaerner (now Jacobs) E&C Australia, a successful but extremely male-run organisation. With a background in engineering, science and IT, he is a company director and management consultant, and a Fellow of various engineering institutions and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In recent years he developed a new argument for more women in engineering based on personality types in the engineering profession and with Gunilla has made numerous presentations around the country on the problems encountered by women in engineering and in business. Mark is an accredited Myers Briggs trainer.

For further details, click here.

Gunilla and Mark are both members of the Advisory Board of EA’s National Committee for Women in Engineering and EA’s National Board for the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management.