Supporting Diversity
in STEM leadership

The WILD Program™ aims to create a community empowered and equipped to address gender disparity across the STEM sector.

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OUR VISION

To empower and equip the STEM sector to overcome gender disparity in leadership by 2040

The Women in Leadership Development (WILD) Program tackles common barriers to career progression and sector retention faced by women employed in the STEM sector. Through a 6-month leadership course, the WILD Program provides Australian women in STEM with the qualifications, skills, confidence and networks needed to attain senior leadership and board positions.
WILD PROGRAM 2022
WHY WILD

Diversity in leadership and on boards ensures depth
and breadth of insight, healthy debate and good decision making.

Leaders with diverse backgrounds, ages, genders, ethnicities and experience levels allow organisations to be more adaptable to the ever-changing environment, ultimately making them more successful. Yet while the benefits of diversity are clear, females are underrepresented in leadership and board positions across Australia

17% of the STEM
workforce are women

While women make up just under half of all STEM university enrolments, only 17% of the Australian STEM workforce is women

33% women
on boards

Women occupy 33% of board seats and only 10 CEO positions on ASX-200 companies

Directors from diverse backgrounds

Only 5% of ASX200 board members are from non-European backgrounds

Barriers to achieving diversity include

Substantial costs of qualifications

Limited opportunity
to attend training

 

Family commitments

Workplace
bias

Lack of
mentors

“The WILD Program came along at the perfect time in my career. It was an intensely rewarding experience that gave me extra confidence in skills I’d already been exercising in my role leading a commercial laboratory. The added bonus has been the creation of a close-knit group of women that are wonderful at sharing their expertise and amazing skill sets”

 

Dr Catherine Osborne CEO, Crux Biolabs

“The WILD program has made a key step to addressing the lack of women on boards. Each stage of the Program is well thought out with practical, tangible outcomes. This Program has made me more confident to join a board as well as more aware of the skills that I would bring to a board”

 

Grace Lethlean, Chief Product Officer, ANDHealth