A Leadership Program designed specifically for Women of Colour

Women of Colour Australia is in charge of the Women of Colour Executive Leadership Program. It starts in May 2023.

The chance to participate in leadership programs can help senior managers advance their careers by developing their networks and skill set. What if such programs weren't available to you or weren't made with your requirements in mind?

A new program called the Women of Color Executive Leadership Program (WoC ELP) is attempting to help Victorian women with this problem. The seven-month program, supported by the state government, aims to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in Australian institutions while also developing careers and establishing a pipeline for senior leaders to fill C-Suite and board roles.

Career leadership programs are particularly accessible to Anglo-Celtic Europeans, according to research on leadership development programs for people of colour and immigrant populations. 

According to Kat Henaway, director of the organization Women's Business and a descendant of the Mer and Mua peoples of the Torres Strait Islands, they are frequently unavailable to marginalized populations and not contextualized for their needs.

For the non-profit organization Women of Colour Australia, Kat created the WoC ELP. It is "230 years overdue," according to her, for programs like these.

"Because we were governed by Anglo-Celtic people, we benefited from their wisdom, knowledge, and leadership. Individuals of colour will have their own, legitimate viewpoints, according to Kat. She also mentions how fast the economies of China and India are developing.

Despite being our neighbours and having a significant worldwide influence, Kat claims that in Australia, these opinions of people of colour are not included in our educational system.

One of the professionals chosen to present the WoC ELP is Tasneem Chopra OAM, a cross-cultural consultant and diversity, equality, and inclusion training. Cross-cultural representation, according to her, is "still uncomfortable terrain" in Australia.

Tasneem started her own business as a cross-cultural consultant to address the issue that the vast majority of people of colour lacked platforms and chances rather than capacity or abilities. "To me, that indicated a systemic issue. It was the institutions' failure to effectively teach about and manage cultural diversity, according to her.

Before International Women's Day this year, the need for more varied women's voices is being emphasized. A coalition of 25 Australian campaigners and organizations has participated in the International Women's Day campaign More Voices, More Representation. 

They have banded together to promote the inclusion of a more diversified representation of women in Australia's IWD festivities and activities in the future. Kat supports their decision.

The largest and most famous [IWD] activities are generally conducted by top organizations that frequently lack diversity in their leadership, according to Kat. This was evident in 2012 when she volunteered for UN Women.

Women from all around Australia have asked for the Women of Colour Executive Leadership Program in Victoria to be offered in their state even before it officially began in May.

Tasneem views it as an opportunity for corporations, the government, and recruitment agencies to pay attention. "Their incapacity to do better with recruiting is evidenced by the fact that we require this program...

They haven't taken use of the abundance of talent that exists. They will lose out if they don't since these women are competent, skilled, and enthusiastic.