The Tasmanian Government is committed to improving the lives of women, and leading by example in pushing for greater diversity.
The Board Diversity Government Scholarship Program is an initiative under our Women on Boards Strategy, which aims to increase female representation on Government boards and committees to 50 per cent by 2020.
The Strategy has so far delivered great outcomes, with Tasmania since 2015, having the highest growth of women’s representation on government boards across all states and territories, increasing from 33.8 per cent to 42.9 per cent as of August 2018.
This represents an increase of 9.1 percentage points in the number of board positions held by women since 2015, or an increase of nearly 27 per cent in the ratio of women board members.
The latest Annual Report also shows that at the end of August this year, women held 52.9 per cent of director positions on Government Business Enterprises and 44.1 per cent of Director positions on state owned companies.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is driving change to create a more inclusive Tasmania that empowers and enables women and girls to fully participate in our economic, social, political and community life.
The Government has committed $200,000 over four years for scholarships for women to undertake courses delivered by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Since its launch in 2015, 75 scholarships have been awarded through the Program.
This year scholarships have been awarded to Tasmanian women who are emerging leaders, and women who face the most barriers to professional development opportunities and leadership roles, including board and committee appointments.
Applications were actively sought from women with disability, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, Aboriginal women and women working in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) areas.
Seven of today’s 17 scholarship recipients have migrant or refugee backgrounds; two are women with disability and three scholarships have been received by women working in STEMM areas.
I congratulate all the outstanding women who have received the 2018-19 scholarships.
The year’s scholarship recipients are:
Zenobia Allie
Rebecca Astell
Mary Bosco
Emily Briffa
Joanne Folder
Keren Franks
Rebecca Free
Amanda French
Karen Hind
Fariba Ahmady Jaffari
Yashoda Koirala
Miaw Yng Lim
Anne Rathjen
Lisa Schimanski
Laura Smith
Sandra Thaow
Hirut Weldemichael Seboka
To view the Women on Boards Strategy Annual Report 2018:
www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/csr/programs_and_services/women_on_boards_and_committees/
