Monash wins award for improving gender equity in STEMM careers

Monash University has been honoured with another prestigious Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Cygnet Award, this time for improving the representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) careers.

Monash has doubled the number of women Professors in STEMM at the University since 2018, rising from 63 women Professors in 2018  to 123 in 2024. The University has also lifted the number of women Associate Professors by 50 percent, from 78 in 2018 to 117 in 2024.

SAGE CEO Dr Janin Bredehoeft congratulated the University on achieving its third Cygnet award.

“STEMM is an area where we see persistent barriers to the recruitment, retention and career progression of women, but Monash University has been making impressive progress to pull these barriers down."

“Congratulations to Monash for taking a holistic approach to addressing this challenge.

“I particularly want to commend the team for revisiting policies and making further improvements to ensure they’re really having an impact. That commitment to continuous improvement is what SAGE is all about,” Dr Bredehoeft said.

Monash University Provost and Senior Vice-President Professor Susan Elliott AM thanked SAGE.

“We are thrilled to receive another Cygnet award which recognises the unrelenting focus of so many people at Monash to advance gender equity, including in STEMM careers. We still have work to do, but we have increased the pace of change since joining Athena SWAN,” she said.

Associate Professor Laura Jobson, Chair of Monash University Athena SWAN Committee said while there was no simple solution for improving gender equity in STEMM, the Athena SWAN program provides a clear framework that has helped us develop a robust action plan and guide efforts using an evidence-based approach.

“There’s been a lot of years of hard work from so many people across the University, from our most senior leaders to right down at local levels. We aren’t trying to ‘fix’ women, we’re changing things at a structural level so women can succeed.”

The power of diversity

Gender equality in STEMM has wide benefits. Engineer Dr Faezeh Marzbanrad, pictured above, is passionate about getting more women into engineering, and allowing them to flourish, because it will help engineers solve more of the world’s problems.

“When I had my baby I struggled with breastfeeding and I never knew how much milk she was getting. I realised the reason why this problem had never been solved is we don’t have that many female engineers,” she said.

On returning to work, Dr Marzbanrad developed a non-invasive patch that can be placed on a baby’s neck to measure how much fluid they are swallowing. She's gone on to develop several other medical devices.

Now the award-winning academic who was born in war-torn Iran is working with leading researchers internationally and communities in Guatemala and in the regional area of East Gippsland in Victoria, developing low-cost and easily transportable solutions for pre-natal health monitoring to support women with high-risk pregnancies.

“We need gender diversity and diversity of lived experience in engineering,” she said.

You can read more stories of inspiring Monash women in STEMM here.

SAGE has previously awarded Monash Cygnets for improving equity in academic promotions and reducing barriers to Indigenous employment. Monash is the only university based in Victoria to have three Cygnets.