When American engineer Ashley Roach applied to a female-only recruitment round at the University of Sydney, its targeted nature made her “more comfortable” being ambitious.

The California-trained materials scientist had thrown her name in the ring for a few other positions as she considered “where to go next” from a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Cambridge.

“I think that this women-only call made me a better candidate, and maybe a better applicant…[because] I felt like I didn’t have to justify my existence in the space.

“It made me…more comfortable being honest. I’m excited about doing battery [and] renewable energy research, and these things can be very pie in the sky. It’s something that becomes so implicit for a lot of us in low-women fields. We go into rooms and feel we need to have a lot of evidence behind what we say, because there’s a chance that we’ll be questioned more.”

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Roach is one of 16 mostly foreign academics selected from a recruitment round that attracted almost 600 applicants from more than 40 countries. The new recruits are expected to increase women’s share of continuing academics in Sydney’s engineering faculty to 25 per cent, up from about 22 per cent now.

The faculty is so pleased with the results that it is repeating the exercise. “We didn’t really know what to expect [but] the talent did blow us away a little bit,” said Renae Ryan, associate dean of culture and community. “We hope to get some more amazing applicants for this round as well.”

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The round is open until mid-July, specifically targeting roles in aerospace, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering and mechatronics – fields where the female share of Sydney’s tenured academics ranges between 15 and 19 per cent, Ryan says.

Engineering is among the most gender-imbalanced STEM disciplines, according to representative body Engineers ߣߣ��Ƶ. Its found that women constituted just 16 per cent of ߣߣ��Ƶn engineering graduates and 13 per cent of the workforce.

The report found that most women did not even consider a future in engineering, mostly because of a “lack of familiarity” stemming from their school days.

Ryan said the targeted nature of last year’s recruitment had helped draw applications from women, “not necessarily because it was designated, and they thought they would have a better chance, but because it was clear that we wanted to do something about gender diversity in engineering, and that’s a place they wanted to work.

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“Maybe for others it was a turn-off. We don’t know [who] didn’t apply. But…more often than not, people [said] they [had] applied because it was a women-only round.”

Roach said that while it had been a “big factor” in her application, she had only realised that she had treated the exercise differently after arriving in ߣߣ��Ƶ and “reflecting”.

“I looked back through my application for this job and…the few other jobs I got shortlisted on, and it stood out. It was a much better application, and I think that had a part to play.

“It’s very hard to find a job in academia, and each application [takes] so much time and effort. We all deal with this as everyone’s growing up in their field, and transitioning into being a little more authoritative. But at least for myself, [the women-only call] was a big positive influence.”

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com