When it comes to some of the biggest challenges of our time, including the climate crisis and the fast rise of artificial intelligence, women and girls are disproportionately impacted, yet still remain less likely than men to drive decisions regarding how such challenges are handled.
As such, it’s excellent to see Chief Executive Women taking a stronger stance on such global forces, as declared at their CEW Leadership Summit opening today.
CEW, which represents more than 1400 senior leaders across different industries, are demanding a seat at “every table where the nation’s future is decided,” and they’re warning that solutions designed without women will fail Australia.
The calls are being made amid global backlash against diversity and inclusion in workplaces, largely driven by US President Donald Trump’s efforts and enthusiastically supported by various opportunistic businesses and politicians in Australia.
CEW have also noted the increasing polarisation affecting Australia — not as some kind of distant, theoretical challenge, but as a challenge that has already hit our shores and is impacting the lives of women right now.
As CEO of CEW, Lisa Annese said in the lead up to the Summit opening today, the challenges we face are complex and interconnected, requiring the full depth of experiences of Australians.
“This is why having women at the table is so important,” she says.
“We see what others miss. We ask different questions. We bring lived experiences that transform theoretical problems into human realities. And we understand that solutions that don’t work for everyone don’t really work at all.”
Helen Conway, who was announced as President of CEW earlier this year, say women are disproportionately impacted by transformations currently affecting all parts of the globe.
“When AI systems are trained on biased data, it’s women’s experiences that are filtered out.
“When climate disasters strike, it’s women globally who bear the heaviest burden.
“When workplace cultures are unsafe, it’s women who leave.
“When economic systems fail to value care work, the careers of women are often the ones that are sacrificed.
“But impact without influence is unacceptable. Women must be at the centre of designing solutions, not just managing consequences. This is because decisions made without women’s voices will inevitably fail to serve our true needs.”
Twenty speakers will address the CEW Leadership Summit today, including AI experts and climate experts, as well as First Nations leaders and the Minister for Finance and Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher.
The event follows the release of the latest BCEC and WGEA Gender Equity Insights 2025 report, which found that companies that take proactive steps towards supporting gender balance see higher attrition rates for women as well as overall improved company performance.
So if the global threats disproportionately affecting women and girls are not enough to include women at the table of critical decision-making in business, perhaps the very real business case for doing so can be. As Women’s Agenda reported on Tuesday, companies with gender balanced executive leadership teams benefit from an average seven per cent increase in company performance.