13 minute read
Women in Industry
A NIGHT OF CELEBRATION AT THE WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AWARDS
Melbourne hosted the Women in Industry Awards in April, recognising exceptional women across various industries, including engineering, supply chain and logistics.
The Women in Industry Awards were presented in partnership with MHD Supply Chain Solutions and other Prime Creative titles to celebrate not only the winners and nominees, but all women in these industries for their commitment, diligence, and dedication.
Mining, road transport, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, bulk handling, waste management, and rail and infrastructure are all traditionally male-dominated industries.
The awards provided an opportunity to recognise the achievements and dedication of the women who work in these industries.
One of this year’s judges, Kylie Fahey, Institute of Quarrying Australia CEO, says it was a big honour to be involved in the awards.
“Anything that we can do to be showcasing the incredible roles that women play in the industry, support diversity and inclusion, and certainly looking to promote for more females to join such an incredible industry, is wonderful,” Kylie says.
Judging for the third time, Kylie noted the breadth of nominations that stood out to her this year.
“Even within the categories themselves, there’s just such a range of innovation and a range of different projects and businesses that are put forward,” Kylie adds.
“It’s wonderful to also see the levels of people that are nominating. We’ve seen everyone from leading CEOs of very large, listed companies, right through to people that are working at the coalface of health and safety work like health and safety officers. I think something that’s very refreshing about the awards is that they are open to everybody.
“We are encouraging that profile of females that are working in the industry, and they’re working in such a variety of roles, and I think that’s a real strength of the process and the strength of recognising what women are doing for the industry, and equally encouraging more females to join.”
Engineers Australia CEO Dr. Bronwyn Evans was a notable double winner, taking home the Woman of the Year and
Excellence in Engineering awards.
BAE Systems, Excellence in Engineering category sponsor, says it was especially proud to sponsor the award.
“We have female engineers to thank for many of the world’s greatest innovations, yet they make up only 12 per cent of engineers employed in Australia,” BAE Systems says.
“Awards such as these are important
to not only celebrate achievement, but to also provide inspiration to others to break down barriers and excel in the engineering industry,” it adds.
Bronwyn says there is still more that needs to be done to increase the number of women in the industry.
“Nights like tonight are important so we can celebrate our successes,” Bronwyn says. “However, we still need to have difficult conversations about education, bias, assumptions and missed opportunities for women in industry,” she adds.
“We know we will have succeeded when women are represented 50 per cent top-to-bottom. I urge all of us here tonight to use our profiles and our influence to be role models and to be champions for the amazing women who are joining our industries and professions.”
All nominees and winners should be incredibly proud of the work they have achieved and the dedication and commitment they have shown throughout the industry.
Other winners from the evening included: • Jo Withford – Social Leader of the Year • Larissa Rose – Mentor of the Year • Stephanie O’Dwyer – Safety Advocacy • Christine Morris – Excellence in Mining • Megan McCracken – Industry
Advocacy Award • Shay Chalmers – Excellence in Manufacturing • Catherine Baxter – Excellence in Transport • Lacey Webb – Business
Development Success • Monique Yap – Rising Star of the Year.
MEGAN MCCRACKEN WINS INDUSTRY ADVOCACY AWARD
Megan McCracken has been honoured with the Industry Advocacy Award at this year’s Women in Industry Awards.
The event, hosted by Prime Creative Media and held on Thursday April 7 in Melbourne, celebrated outstanding women from the industrials sector – spotlighting outstanding work in mining, road transport, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, bulk handling, waste management, rail, and infrastructure.
Megan has long been a standout player in the sector and wears many different hats. Indeed, her current roles include (but are not limited to): Chair of the Freight and Logistics Council of WA; Non-Executive Director (Chair People & Performance Committee) at Pacific Energy Limited; and Leadership Coach at Pleiades Consulting.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WIN THE INDUSTRY ADVOCACY AWARD?
Megan: Okay, so winning was genuinely a surprise, and I wasn’t able to be in Melbourne for the ceremony. Instead, I was actually at another gathering that a friend and I organised called Extraordinary Women here in Perth. Our team was there [in Melbourne] and texting me photos and everything, and then they texted me this photo of the ‘congratulation screen’, and I just didn’t know – I was just so surprised –it was surreal, and then I told my friend, Anna who organises Waves and then, you know, we got champagne out and so I had my own little celebration. So, it was amazing. But the thing that I loved about it was that NAWO was there. They had their own table because this really isn’t our award. You know, they nominated me. I really feel that it just means that advocating for gender diversity in operations shows how much of a worthwhile pursuit it is.
WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION WITH NAWO?
Megan: I was the chair for four years. I’ve been on the board for eight years, and I was the chair for four of those years. I’ve been involved with NAWO since it was pretty small and fledgling – when it was really just a board and now it’s a fully-fledged organisation – 60 something members across the country. I finished my final term. I did four terms on the board. I finished my final term last year and we had a succession and handover mid last year. I’ve been I’ve been involved with them. You know that they’re a very important part of my life now.
IN YOUR VIEW – WHY ARE WII AWARDS IMPORTANT – PARTICULARLY IN YOUR SECTOR?
Megan: Because there are so few women still in these sectors, and because so many of the women that do this work are doing it in addition to their day jobs – outside their normal work hours. We can see the work that’s being done because young women – and not just young women – any women and young men can see that it’s been done. It’s amazing how many women still don’t go into rooms where they are full of women in their sector, so that’s really important. And then the other thing is simply recognising all of the women that do this, usually in addition to their day jobs, you know, they’re working in and you know, that’s a lot of other people who they’re not having to check, you know, try and bring change about and, and smooth the pathway for a whole sector of the community and do their job.
BRIEFLY – HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START IN THE INDUSTRY?
I turned up at uni on the first day not knowing anything about uni. I was the first in my family to go to uni, and I turned up and I picked out a subject called Industrial Relations, and I picked it because I had no idea what it was and I ended up working in industrial relations in the iron ore industry in Western Australia and found myself working for an amazing boss; a really strong team that probably is still the best team I’ve ever worked for. My introduction to the sector was superbly positive, and I’ve been there ever since. I like working with businesses that make and do things.
Megan McKracken, winner of the Industry Advocacy Award.
WHAT WORDS OF ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR A YOUNG WOMAN STARTING OUT IN THIS SECTOR?
Megan: But you know, in terms of the sector, to be honest, my advice for women is probably the same, whichever roles they’re going into. And the thing that I see looking back is knowing who you are, knowing yourself, enough that you can be yourself. You are thinking about the crossover between what you
love, what you’re good at what or what you want to be good at, and what your sector needs and finding something that really matches that between you and them because if you know yourself, you know what you can say “yes” to and “no” to. You go in saying, “I’ve got to fit in here,” then that means that you’re going to change yourself to fit here and that’s not going to go well. And you might do things or be in situations that you find yourself that you don’t want to be in, so I can’t promise everyone a cure all for that. The other one is building long-term relationships: people who genuinely support you, and non-judgmentally support you. Mentor others as soon as you can and then don’t stop learning. Don’t think you know everything. You just got to keep knowing, keep improving, and pretty much, I’d say that for anyone. I think knowing yourself and knowing what you will say “yes” and “no” to is just supremely important.
DR BRONWYN EVANS WINS TWO AWARDS AT PRESENTATION EVENING
Engineers Australia CEO Dr Bronwyn Evans AM has been honoured with the Woman of the Year and Excellence in Engineering awards at this year’s Women in Industry Awards.
The event, hosted by Prime Creative Media, celebrated outstanding women from the industrials sector – those who work in mining, road transport, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, bulk handling, waste management, rail, and infrastructure.
Dr Evans was acknowledged as an outstanding engineer and trailblazer in her field.
The first woman to be CEO at Engineers Australia, Dr Evans was previously the first female CEO of Standards Australia, where she was instrumental in improving the standards development process and was elected to a global role on the ISO’s governing President’s Committee.
Dr Evans expressed her excitement regarding the awards, adding that being presented with two was a thrill.
“These awards have been able to shine a light on how many amazing women are in such a broad range of industries and then to be singled out as the Woman of the Year was quite amazing,” Bronwyn says.
Commenting on her career, Dr Evans said that she has always thought of engineering as a worthwhile career to grow into, but that there was still a way to go to make the career accessible for everyone.
“We’ve been looking at how we coordinate across groups to really amplify everyone’s efforts; there’s so many great initiatives out there looking at enticing kids, particularly girls, into science, technology, engineering and maths,” Bronwyn says.
Dr Evans is highly involved with these programs, running workshops for Year 11 and 12 students along with teaching university-level engineering students.
When accepting the award, Dr Evans said there was still much work to do to increase the number of women in industry.
She is also involved in helping teachers structure their curriculums so they can start at the fundamentals and grow their encouragement with their students.
“Nights like tonight are important so we can celebrate our successes. However, we still need to have difficult conversations about education, bias, assumptions and missed opportunities for women in industry,” she says.
“We know we will have succeeded when women are represented 50 per cent top to bottom. I urge all of us here tonight to use our profiles and our influence to be role models and to be champions for the amazing
Dr Bronwyn Evans (left), recipient of the Woman of the Year and Excellence in Engineering awards.
women who are joining our industries and professions.”
Commenting on the current state of gender diversity in Australian engineering and manufacturing, Dr Evans expressed her sadness that the industry was missing out on some great female minds.
“We’ve got to change some of the representation of what our industry is, what we do, how we contribute and then
we have to look at retraining people and giving people insight on the sorts of careers that are available.”
Category sponsor BAE Systems said they were particularly proud to sponsor the Engineering Excellence category in 2021.
“We have female engineers to thank for many of the world’s greatest innovations, yet they make up only 12 per cent of engineers employed in Australia. Awards such as these are important to not only celebrate achievement, but to also provide inspiration to others to break down barriers and excel in the engineering industry.”
Dr Evans has held a plethora of non-executive positions, many on a volunteer basis, in Industry 4.0, STEM, industry-academia connections, construction and innovation.
She is a Chartered engineer and Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia. In 2021, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Swinburne University and appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for significant service to engineering, to standards and to medical technology.
IMPORTANT FOR WOMEN TO RISE THROUGH RAIL RANKS
Women in Industry award winner Catherine Baxter says running Metro Trains Melbourne is more than just “ticking boxes”.
Metro Trains Melbourne’s Chief Operating Officer, Catherine Baxter, recently won the Women in Industry Award for Excellence in Transport.
The awards are presented by Rail Express, together with sister publications Australian Mining, PACE, Manufacturers’ Monthly, MHD Supply Chain Solutions, Prime Mover, Trailer, Waste Management Review, Roads & Infrastructure Australia, and Australian Bulk Handling Review, to acknowledge the exceptional women who have achieved success through their invaluable leadership, innovation, and commitment to their respective fields.
Catherine received the honour at a special awards ceremony in Melbourne, which included finalists from across the mining, engineering, transport, logistics and infrastructure sectors.
The Excellence in Transport award recognises an individual who has gone above and beyond to improve and positively impact the Australian transport industry.
“I’m enormously grateful to win this award. It’s especially important to me because these awards are decided by my peers. It’s judged for women in industry, by women in industry,” Catherine says.
Catherine has been working in the rail industry for more than three decades.
When she first joined Queensland Rail in the 1980s, it was a maledominated industry. Despite this, she pushed forward, making a name for herself quickly, and leading the charge to bring more women on board.
“It’s essential that women not only join the rail industry but rise through the ranks. I take this role very seriously and if I can inspire other women to join the rewarding world of rail, then I know I’m doing my part to set us up for a bright future,” she says.
Now, having brought her talents to Melbourne, she oversees the safe running of Metro’s network, and the delivery of nationally recognised rail safety training.
“I’m very proud that every day Metro continues to better reflect the values of the community we serve. That means ensuring women are working at all levels, in all types of roles. I can assure you that we’re not just ticking boxes,” she says.
“Bringing more women into Metro improves both our business and the city of Melbourne. Hiring new people
Catherine Baxter, winner of the Women in Industry Award for Excellence in Transport.
from diverse parts of the Victorian community, who previously didn’t have a seat at the table, means more women have an opportunity to develop a career in our industry than ever before.” ■
