Gender Equity at JCU

Gender Equity Action @ JCU: Our Commitment.

James Cook University is committed to fostering a community that features, at its core, respect, inclusion and safety for all. We support gender equality as a foundation for respectful relationships and an underpinning principle for change.

A commitment to gender equality means strong and courageous leadership, effective systems, and education leading to behaviour change. It means addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the unacceptably low numbers of women in senior academic, professional and support roles, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine where these trends are deeply entrenched. It means addressing the gender pay gap, the impact of short-term contracts for academic women, and obstacles that exist at major career transition points for women. This means a strong and enduring commitment to the elimination of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

SAGE Athena Swan

JCU is a member of SAGE, and was awarded Bronze accreditation in 2020.

SAGE is a national program promoting gender equity and diversity in science, technology engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). It is based on the principles of the UK's Athena SWAN Charter, an evaluation and accreditation framework that addresses the improvement of gender equity policies and practices in STEMM.

Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Ltd is a not-for-profit public company which administers the unique Athena SWAN gender equity and diversity national accreditation framework.

Founded by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, SAGE’s vision is to improve gender equity in the Australian higher education and research sector. SAGE is building a sustainable and adaptable Athena SWAN model for Australia.