My hope for the future of gender diversity and inclusion here at Griffith
is that we have women in all of our different groups, in all of our different areas
absolutely succeeding to the best of their abilities
and in some ways that it just becomes normal in every day
to expect to see women in all sorts of positions of leadership
in every area of the university.
And that we continue to have a discussion about diversity that includes gender.
In the long term, I think that one will hope to have proportional representation
of diverse groups in positions at all levels,
from administration, to faculty, to students.
I think the leaders have an important role to play when it comes to diversity.
Having just diversity is not everything, it’s important.
But you have to create the right environment, the right culture.
Where diversity can actually make a difference,
can actually flourish.
When we're all empowered to recognise inequities in our culture,
in our practices, we can start to challenge some of
those inequities and ensure that we're doing better in all spaces.
Each for equal or an equal world to me is one that's an enabled world
where you don't have to unpick stereotypes.
You don't have to challenge entrenched behaviours.
You don't have to be resilient in order to survive
and where through the collective action of
everybody within the organisation,
you have a very enabled environment.
I would like to think that generations to come will enjoy an opportunity
that isn't based on who they are,
where they came from, and particularly their gender.
I've strived to be open about my journey about my transition
to try and help other people come to terms with
not only the fact that trans people exist,
that we're very real human beings and things like that,
but also to help other trans people who start at Griffith
or who are at Griffith to come out, to feel comfortable, to feel safe.
So I understand the themes this year are generation equality and each for equal.
What I like about each for equal is that it's about looking in your,
your heart and your mind and thinking about the power you have
and figuring out what you're individually going to do to promote equality.
We've been talking the talk for a long time and now
I feel like it's time we walk the walk as a society.
So we're working quite strongly on
appointment and promotion of females within the sciences group.
We're putting into place various strategies that have had quite a bit of success so far.
The way we are doing that is through various things like
putting different wording into our position descriptions
so that females realise that this is a good place to come and work at.
My hopes for the future is that a diversity of women are able to access
and progress in employment,
and that we've removed structural inequalities
that lead to women's unequal position in society.
I think it's not just parity for parity’s sake,
it's very clear that the outcomes are actually better.
And it's greater diversity of conversation and greater diversity
that informs better decision making, essentially, which is really the key priority.
So through my art practice, I like to recognize those who have come before me,
those who have come before all of us,
the women, these incredible trailblazers.
For these themes of International Women's Day,
I celebrate them. We celebrate them.