FREMANTLE researcher Linley Lord has been inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame in recognition for her gender equity and equal opportunity advocacy.  

Prof Lord, who is an associate deputy vice chancellor at Curtin University and professor at its School of Management and Marketing, has conducted extensive research on the intersection of gender, leadership, and women in STEM. 

She’s published a plethora of articles on the subject, and specialises in research on the female experience in leadership and ‘non-traditional’ roles, in STEM and the general workplace.

• Professor Linley Lord. Photo by Karen Wheatland

STEM

It’s a hefty subject which Ms Lord became interested in early in her career; to carve systemic changes in workplaces which have so long excluded women from positions of power 

“People didn’t necessarily set out to create a system of processes or policies to discriminate against women,” Ms Lord said. 

“It’s just that women’s experiences, the caring responsibilities that women have, the expectations that are placed on women about how they enact leadership means that those systems and processes weren’t written to include us.” 

Ms Lord was heavily involved in the implementation of the Women in Leadership project at ECU, which is representative of her work to create systemic change to make workplaces more accessible and welcoming to women. 

From Ms Lord’s perspective, conditions are changing for women in Australian workplaces, and indeed worldwide, but there’s “still so much to do” to achieve an acceptable level of true gender equality. 

“Sometimes, I look at what is still to be done and that can be a bit daunting,” Ms Lord said. 

“Women are still likely to earn less money than men, they’re less likely to be in leadership positions, we know that women continue to be sexually harassed in the workplace, but now we talk about these things so it’s not such a silent epidemic.” 

Men have a “critical” role to play in creating safe and accessible workplaces, according to Ms Lord. 

“If men are not involved and active as agents of change, then we continue to position it as a women’s problem to solve,” she said. 

“There are some fantastic male leaders who absolutely want workplaces and societies to be better and safer places for women, and those men are absolutely key.” 

Ms Lord says she is “so proud” to have been inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame, which she says is “a fantastic showcase” of WA’s change makers and visible role models from around the state. 

“It’s actually very humbling, especially when I met the other inductees from this year, and it’s incredibly honouring when you are just doing what you think needs to be done,” Ms Lord said. 

“I’m delighted, but also really humbled that the work I’ve been doing over a good number of years to support women and women’s careers has been recognised by my peers.

“To be able to provide positive role models for younger women, and even young men, is a fantastic job.”

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER