Corangamite CMA celebrates equal opportunity

Corangamite CMA Chair Cath Jenkins and CEO Amber Clarke. (Ferne Millen)

As the world honours the achievements and contributions of women for International Women’s Day, Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA)

The CMA has made huge strides over the past seven years with representation of women in leadership positions.

In 2018, women held only 25 per cent of the organisation’s management team positions. Today, the CMA boasts a female chair and chief executive, women in three out of four senior leadership positions and 67 per cent female workforce overall.

Acting chief executive Sarah Holland-Clift said the CMA had actively sought to address the gender gap after “acknowledging the benefits of a gender balance in key decision-making positions”.

“Everyone has the right to equal opportunity in employment, so we focused on removing barriers and providing employees with supports to overcome obstacles and historical inequities to provide a truly level playing field,” Ms Holland-Clift said.

“Today diversity and inclusion are part of everything that we do at Corangamite CMA. We are committed to embracing and reflecting the diversity of our community and to supporting inclusion and participation by everyone in our workplace and through the ways we work.”

Corangamite CMA has implemented initiatives such as embedding flexible work arrangements as well as part time work and job share arrangements. 100 per cent of Corangamite CMA employees work flexibly.

“To remove barriers for females in management roles, we carefully consider team structure, how to reshuffle responsibilities across the team, and the creation of new part time positions to ensure part time staff are not simply doing a full-time role in less time,” Ms Holland-Clift said

“We know that organisations that embrace diversity and inclusion have higher employee engagement, improved performance, greater innovation, better retention of talent, and improved employee wellbeing.

“We’re so proud of what we’ve achieved in promoting gender equity across Corangamite CMA.”