Executive Decisions for the Fairer Sex

The successes of women with legal backgrounds are many. Now they are also proving they can bear the brunt of accountable, public leadership. Australia’s next Governor General, Deputy Prime Minister, two High Court judges and Hillary Clinton are but some model women a generation of ambitious students have to fashion themselves after. Read on to learn about the exciting new program investing in Australia’s tomorrow and giving local female students a foot up onto the corporate ladder.

FEMALE law students faced an important deadline today, the closing date for Lucy applications and the opportunity of a lifetime. The Lucy Mentoring Program, developed by the NSW Office for Women, the University of Western Sydney and the University of Sydney, is an innovative leadership program for undergraduate women who will lead Australia’s corporate and public sectors into tomorrow.

The Lucy program draws mentors from organisations as diverse as the Australian Ballet to NSW Women Lawyers. Its motto is to ‘inspire, motivate and educate’ but most valuable are the practical links made with industry.

For those studying business and law, participants are introduced to their own workplace mentor who will guide them through 35 hours of work based activity over a course of three months. In this time mentors and students complete a small work-related project while also attending larger group sessions to meet and learn from other program participants.

Women represent only 30.3% of executive positions in the NSW Public Sector. The NSW Office for Women says factors contributing to female under representation are complex but include the fact that women continue to bear the greater share of family responsibilities, and that many corporate cultures do not support female leaders. At the program’s inception some years ago Dr Ingrid Schraner, senior lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance at UWS, said that “…students gain an understanding of what it takes to be a successful woman leader and how to get there. There’s a strong focus on providing students with interview skills, networking opportunities, and a sense of how to juggle work and family life.”

Since that time Lucy has gained momentum with the involvement of more partner universitites running autonomous programs for their students. Participating universities for 2008 include:

• University of Western Sydney
• University of Sydney
• University of New South Wales
• University of Newcastle
• University of New England
• University of Wollongong

* For more information see the NSW Office for Women website OR

Refer to the Business and Law faculties of a participating university.