In Australia, as in many Western industrialised countries, women accessing corporate board positions are still the exception to the rule. This paper reports research exploring men's and women's views on the factors crucial in attaining a board position. While both groups identified the importance of a strong track record, a good understanding of business principles and business contacts in gaining board positions, we found that women also highlighted the importance of high visibility and family contacts to account for their nomination to boards. It seems that women's competence has to be widely acknowledged in the public domain or through family connections before boards, or their nominating committees, will be prepared to "risk" having a woman on the board. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
While women have continued to increase their representation in the paid workforce, their representation on corporate boards in Australia remains very low. In this paper, the views of men and women board members of publicly‐listed companies in Australia concerning the adequacy of the composition of boards and the factors contributing to women’s low representation are explored and contrasted. It seems that these “successful” men and women have significantly different views on the benefits of homogeneity or diversity of board membership. While the men believe the current composition is generally adequate, the women are concerned about the lack of diversity of board membership. These findings are considered in the context of existing work on masculinity and identity politics that suggest that those who are part of the hegemonic group do not question the structures that sustain that hegemony.
The Koorie Energy Efficiency Project (KEEP) was a Victoria-based, Australian social marketing initiative designed to provide support to Indigenous households so they could better manage their energy bills by reducing or controlling their energy use. The program was delivered by trained, Indigenous project employees who visited Indigenous households in metropolitan and regional parts of the state. During the home visit, they provided an energy efficiency audit, as well as specific energy efficiency tips and advocacy support. Minor draft-proofing products were also supplied to each household. As part of this project, dwelling and householder information was gathered during each home visit, as well as measures of energy efficiency knowledge, behaviours, and well-being of the main householder before and after a home visit. The results indicate that home visits to support the energy efficiency of indigenous households are effective in terms of encouraging new energy efficiency knowledge, behaviours, and broader elements of well-being. Furthermore, the home visit was found to be effective across all home types, but was significantly more effective in reducing energy related stress and discomfort in traditional houses and traditional apartments. These households were also often small and densely occupied. This suggests that when social marketing programs use methods that are culturally suitable and respectful, such as those used in KEEP, they become a powerful tool to help drive social change in Indigenous communities. The authors conclude that such programs in future will be hindered in their effectiveness unless property owners, such as those of social housing, do not urgently address the maintenance of their properties and ensure they provide fit living conditions for the tenants.
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