Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative
AUSNZ WELI

AUS NZ WELI Advisory Board decided to adopt the terms used by (US)WELI to describe the key partnerships facilitated by AUS NZ WELI; the protégé/advisor dyads.

Advisors are Leaders in medicine or other applicable fields who are supported to combine the elements of coaching and mentoring, and incorporate aspects of sponsorship where applicable. Advisors may well be mentors, but we ask them to not just show our protege’s how they have achieved success, but incorporate tools into the relationship that place the onus back onto the protege to develop goals and a plan for their own success.

The protege should be more focused than a mentee on active reflection and planning to achieve their goals; and will participate not only as part of the dyads, but also as contributing members of workshops, networking events, and peer support within the program.

Yes! Its incredibly important to have men involved in WELI, both as advisors and as champions for gender equity. Men can provide opportunities for networking and sponsorship that may be difficult to come by even for very successful women. Cultural change is only possible with the engagement of men, and the fact is that a diverse workplace with equal access to flexible work arrangements and gender equitable policies is good for everyone.

A helping relationship to achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve an individual’s performance, personal satisfaction and consequently their effectiveness.” (paraphrased from Kilburg, R.R. (1996))

A mentor teaches specific skills within an area of the mentor’s expertise. These include task specific advice, direct instruction, and feedback.

It’s unclear what is driving the gap that still exists when controlled for a number of factors including hours worked, and its an area that needs more research. The factors that we have considered are; the difference in private practice lists; the the difference in discretionary charges – gap charges,    

The possibility that women are less likely to actively seek out and get approved for incremental increases in the award (required in some states);

Women are less likely to be paid for the work they do outside of clinical roles; eg, less likely to be HOD, less likely to be editor in chief, more likely to take on non-remunerated roles

We believe that all opportunities should be awarded on the basis of merit. But we also strongly believe that everyone should have access to the tools required to build merit. It’s about evening the playing field for everyone to compete for the opportunities fairly. Until that occurs, we support the use of quotas to help put people from diverse backgrounds into leadership positions so that those tools are equally accessible to everyone.

Everyone deserves to build work life balance into their careers, and one persons work life balance looks different to another. We are talking about creating equal access to the tools required to build a meaningful and fulfilling career where people belong and feel connected to their departments and professions.