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Women on top making a difference

July 12, 2004

Alison Sheridan 004.jpgThe push to put more women on regional boards has challenged traditional ways members interact, according to a pilot study by two academics from the University of New England.
The findings have helped secure more than $160,000 funding for one of the academics, Associate Professor Alison Sheridan, to conduct a state-wide project on the topic.
“Group dynamics on boards are important and the concerted push to get more women on these boards has certainly made a difference and produced some challenges,” Dr Sheridan said.
This month, Dr Sheridan will start the three-year project, Regional Boards: Understanding the Impact of Gender Diversity on Board Performance, for which she was granted the research funds.

“The aim of the project is to look at the impact of regional boards and the presence of women and how they affect the outcomes,” Dr Sheridan said.
“Research has never been done on regional boards before so this will be the first time.”
There are about 13 such boards across NSW and a similar number in Western Australia, which will also be covered in Dr Sheridan’s project.
Other researchers involved in the work, apart from Dr Sheridan, include Professor Leonie Still from the University of WA and Dr Fiona McKenzie.
The Australian Research Council (ARC) contributed $87,000 towards the project while other bodies to contribute include the NSW Departments of State and Regional Development, for Women and for Local Government and Regional Development. These bodies contributed the remained of the funds for the project.
Said Dr Sheridan: “We hope the project will result in improving policy-making of regional development, to acknowledge the presence of women on such boards and report the findings to industry partners.”
For more information, or for a photo of Dr Sheridan, phone Lydia Roberts
on (02) 6773 2779.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at July 12, 2004 10:41 AM