Employment Opportunity

My home state is advertising for the first ever Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner.

This position came out of a law mandating the promotion (and achievement) of gender equality in my home state's public organisations.

Given that half a century of trying, since the preparation and introduction of gender equality legislation (more or less: the lobbying was longer, centuries really, and there was the finagling in putting that law together before it was passed - see here for a good timeline), to achieve equality "nicely" hadn't worked, although certainly massive improvements had been made, it was well and truly time for a more compelling approach, one that includes targets and quotas because not including them did not work.

This law does not apply to the private sector, BUT it will set an example, and create social pressure (expectation of meeting the standards of best practice - to entice the best of the younger generation, if nothing else) for the private sector. The question there is, in my mind, how long it will take the private sector to catch up. (Activists have a new tool to use, once this is in place.)

Going back to the ad, an organisation is to be prepared, much as there are other organisations behind other commissioners and ombudspersons. This head, the first, of this organisation will have two powerful sets of requirements to meet.

The first is that which is obvious to most people: they will have to be articulate, passionate, and irreproachable.

The latter requirement reflects the unfairness in our society that arises out of (a) small-minded nastiness, and (b) the very discrimination that this position was created to deal with - oh, it will be dressed up as something else, something superficially "reasonable", but it will be bigotry or misogyny.

When I first read the ad, for about 18 milliseconds I thought I would like to apply, but then the "irreproachable" requirement came to mind . . . oops, I've been too cranky an activist for too long, and I'm trans which will probably introduce a whole set of other haters (although someone who is not in the accepted general mould might also help people realise this will also cover issues such as the lack of men in nursing) . . .  then I realised my days of being in front of others and the centre of attention are long gone (I never had them, actually, except for a few years when I was helping to try to keep my people alive in the late 90s/early 2000s - I was the sort of person who, when competing at sailing as a kid, considered losing so I wouldn't have to go to awards [and "forgot' to remind my parents about a community award the local newspaper gave me - which was a shame, 'cos once I got there, I found nice people my age] ) . . . and my days of high stress jobs are (almost) over.

And on that last point, we move into the second set  of requirements: being an exemplary manager.

I quite like the human side of management, developing teams (and was once offered a staggering amount to develop an engineering team, but declined as it would have meant moving to Sydney) and people, but I've gradually lost interest in the struggle to manage budgets. I know it is important - for all organisations, let alone this one where mismanagement would make the new organisation a target and set its cause back, but I've had burn out for too long, burn out that was caused by the way engineering focused on finances at the cost of people.

I also suspect anyone in this position will likely have excellent support on this aspect - a little like the permanent secretaries of other government ministries/departments, or the XO on the science fiction spaceship Enterprise (which is based on real life positions), but such people would be somewhat disconcerted if I started falling asleep when they started discussing budgets ☺

It is going to be an "interesting challenge" to find someone with the right blend of passion and articulateness on the one hand, someone who can be an inspiring leader to not only their organisation, but the entire public sector and ultimately the community, but on the other hand has the management skills and nous to run a modern public sector organisation under a great deal of scrutiny.

The reward is going to be setting the direction/tone and the other aspects that go with being the first in that position.

Last night I listened to part (it was too late here in Australia for me to listen to all of it) of an "online conversation" the Global Centre for R2P organised with people who were now in, and had previously been in, the UN position of Special Advisors on R2P, and the significance of the first person was discussed.

Best wishes to whoever that person is, in this instance.


PS - one other reason I would not apply for such a position is that it will also require a police check, and that would require me to deadname myself, even though my transition was so long ago the Statute of Limitations have now been exceeded for most offences (murder and crimes like genocide don't have limitations, I understand, and I personally consider child abuse shouldn't have any time limit) and there is another approach that would work - and be consistent with recent proposals from Victoria's Parliament to automatically expunge certain convictions.