What do a power lifter, a senator and a data advocate have in common? They’re all heavyweights in Australia’s fight for gender equality. Come along with me on my Eisenhower Fellowship journey to learn about how some countries are successfully closing gender gaps, and what the U.S. can learn from their efforts

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Bye-Bye, Jet Lag! Hello, Hyde Park

It was a good decision to bring workout clothes because Hyde Park was built for brisk morning run! Breezy and shaded, with wide boulevards – it’s a runner’s dream. Hyde Park is Australia’s oldest park. It’s also one of the most well-known with 16.2-hectare urban park located in the central business district of Sydney.  One of the most serene and cleanest park I have ever visited.

Amna Karra-Hassan, Founder and President of the Auburn Giants Australian Football Club

SHE Summit Report Launch

Amna is an activist and advocate for diversity, inclusion and gender parity. She uses her voice to advocate, increase opportunities and representation.  She invited me to attend the SHE Summit Report Launch.  SHE Summit report turned anecdotal knowledge into an evidence-based body of work to support women of culturally, linguistically diverse and minority backgrounds in sport, health and education.  It was an honor to hear from amazing speakers such as Lynne Anderson, CEO for Paralympics Australia and Chair for Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs Rugby league club.   Lynne has seen the pain of exclusion and is passionate about the power of sports to break down barriers.  The next speaker was Yash Kammoun, project officer at ‘GoActive’.  Yashar is driven to promote physical and social well-being programs,

provide social and emotional learning to youth and ultimately provide an opportunity to all women to lead healthier lives, primarily through participation in sporting and health programs.  In the audience attending and supporting this event were Merrilee Barnes, Director Culture and Leadership and Najat Khoury, Human Resources at New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) (pictured below).  Najat is has smashed many Australian powerlifting records and Represented Australia at the World Championships in Finland placing 6^th, currently holding the biggest back squat (215) and deadlift (205.5) for a female in PA., Ranked 1st in her weight division, and listed 5th in the top female lifters list in Australia across all Powerlifting Federations.

#allgirlscan do what they dream of
#allgirlscan play sport.
#allgirlscan be active
#allgirlscan do whatever they put their mind to

(Pictured above Najat Khoury, Amna Karra-Hassan, Sarajeni Hammond, Yash Kammoun and Lynne Anderson)

Jennifer McAllister, Senator for New South Wales

Senator Jenny McAllister is an Australian Labor Party Senator for the state of New South Wales and the Shadow Assistant Minister for Families and Communities. 

Senator McAllister and I discussed Gender Equity and the importance of addressing the gap between women and men’s pay.  The implications of this pay gap are far reaching, because over a working lifetime there are a huge range of policy issues which have an impact on women’s retirement.  Additionally, women, on average, live longer, retire younger than men which reinforces the need to develop a roadmap of concrete recommendations for legislators, leaders, and individuals that should promote gender equity to achieve gender equality.

Vanessa Paterson, Advice & Reporting Executive at Workplace Gender Equality Agency

Workplace Gender Equality Agency is a statutory agency created by the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.  The Agency is charged with promoting and improving gender equality in Australian workplaces.  Insights from five years of data demonstrate clear evidence that employer action has delivered real results. There were increases in the number of employers analyzing their remuneration data for pay gaps and embracing policies or strategies

to improve gender equality in areas such as succession planning, talent identification, retention, promotions and linking manager KPIs to gender equality outcomes. The strong pipeline of women into management has

strengthened and over seven in ten employers now have either a policy or strategy in place to support gender equality or promote flexible work.  A few key take ways from my time with Vanessa:

• Data Tells a story and deepen the understanding of trends
• Accountability is key to ensure inclusion and gender equity becomes a “lived” experience in organizations
• Normalizing flexibility is critical to improving representation and workforce composition

The biggest questions I am left pondering is are stronger reporting requirements needed in the United States to deliver compelling change?  We know the transition point from key management positions to CEO has the highest drop off (59 percent) in women’s representation of any in the pipeline.  2018’s Fortune 500 companies have just 24 female CEOs (4.8%).  Which reflects the departures of six high-profile women CEOs in 2018.