Mentoring is recognized as a vital factor in job satisfaction and career development. However, it is widely acknowledged that career advancement in fields like medicine, research, and health still tends to favor men. Traditional academic mentoring programs often involve a one-way mentor-mentee relationship where a senior academic guides a junior (female) academic. This approach has been shown to boost mentees’ personal accomplishments, career advancement, and work satisfaction. Despite these successes, Simone Dennis and Alison Behie contend that such programs merely train junior women on how to navigate a male-biased system rather than alter it, thereby sustaining patriarchal structures.
We have launched a mentoring program for women scientists aimed at diversifying and transforming the education sector. This program equips them to confront and change systemic values and culture. The Catalyse Mentorship Program, based in regional and rural Australia, uses a dual-mentorship model. Each female participant is paired with both an academic and a corporate mentor. Our research found that Catalyse academic mentors provided insights on technical university or research career paths. They offered guidance on both formal academic progression and the nuances of standing out in one’s field. Conversely, corporate mentors offered advice on strategy, leadership, and interpersonal skills. This included tips on building consensus within teams and with external parties, handling challenging conversations, and developing one’s personal brand.
Catalyse mentees expressed gaining a valuable “discomfort” from stepping out of their comfort zones. This prompted them to consider leadership and impact beyond their academic settings. The mentees took initiative, engaging in new activities like drafting business proposals, forming peer networking groups, and applying for awards. Group mentoring expands beyond merely supporting women; it strengthens their ability to navigate a patriarchal culture. Bringing women together with seasoned researchers has proven to offer greater benefits compared to traditional one-on-one mentoring. As group members share concerns and experiences, their collective sense of justice and mutual support grows. They also exchange diverse solutions and support, which fosters stronger bonds within the group. These solutions are more likely to be effective as they arise from a contemporary context and a variety of experiences.
Moreover, all the groups we’ve mentored have developed strategic plans to challenge the status quo, something that would likely not occur in one-on-one settings. These strategies include requesting data on funding within organizations and relating it to gender and research focus, securing administrative support for women in leadership roles (thereby ensuring they can manage those roles without detriment to their research), presenting collective recommendations to their organizations, advocating for women to lead as chief investigators on grant proposals, and pushing for them to hold senior authorship on papers and to be selected for national committees or keynote speaking roles at major conferences.
One of us, Fiona Stanley, has experience in mentoring First Nations health research scholars. Sharing experiences within these groups allowed them to propose much stronger collective solutions than they would in individual sessions with a non-Indigenous mentor. It became clear from these discussions that racism is prevalent in the health academic sector. However, empowering the group of mentees has led to significant initiatives to combat racism within their institutions. These include delivering major presentations to executive teams, often involving influential external speakers, organizing NAIDOC events, and critically evaluating reconciliation action plans to ensure they are meaningful rather than superficial.
A robust mentoring model should focus on three key elements to bridge the leadership gap: empowering mentees to set the agenda and drive change, diversifying mentors by including those from the corporate or business sectors, and employing group mentoring to enhance networking. Facilitating mentor networking events throughout the program can lead to cross-linking between networks and funding opportunities. Mentoring programs like these provide a comprehensive approach to closing the leadership gap, offering participants both industry-specific advice and external guidance on personal growth and strategic leadership. As Mary Wollstonecraft noted in her pioneering work to dismantle the patriarchy for the benefit of all, “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”