At the NAB Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards this week, I hoped the stories our finalists shared on their success would inspire other women to take risks and grab the opportunities they need to build their own careers.
I hoped the stories behind what these finalists had achieved would highlight the fact there’s a world beyond the expectations of what women can and can’t do. And that we don’t need to operate within the existing parameters of what’s come to be known as ‘work’ given it’s never worked for women.
I hoped their stories would remind us that if some large businesses won’t come to the table on workplace gender equality, others will, and will be better and more competitive for doing so. I wanted all of us to be reminded that women can shun big business to create our own opportunities if big business won’t grant us the opportunities and flexibility we want.
We heard all that and more at our awards luncheon on Thursday. But we also heard a lot about the power one individual can have in directly making a difference to the career of another. This could be as an encouraging family member, a supportive partner, mentor, sponsor or even — as Ann Sherry AO noted during her address — as somebody who takes a couple of minutes to boost another woman’s confidence.
Sherry spoke about the “magic minutes”: the times we can help another colleague with something they’re struggling with, offering a word at the right moment that makes a significant difference, helping somebody with a job interview, reminding another woman of just what she’s capable of.
Seeing a number of year eight high school students at the awards luncheon yesterday, whose tickets had been purchased by an ex-student of the school, I realised we can take our efforts to make the most of those “magic minutes” even further.
High school girls in Australia may have similar challenges to what we remember from being a teenager, but on a whole different scale.
These days, you don’t leave a day at school as a teenage girl and escape any bullying or pressure to ‘fit in’ by going home. You simply deal with more of it in your own bedroom on social media.
You don’t always have time to think about what a future career could offer when you’re constantly bombarded with images in the media telling you your worth is based on your appearance and image alone.
You can’t always express your true personality, ideas and future plans when stereotypes regarding what it means to be a perfect “young women” are perpetuated through reality TV shows and celebrity culture that bear absolutely no resemblance to real life.
So this International Women’s Day my hope is that we can take Ann Sherry’s advice to spend a few of those “magic minutes” building confidence in others to the teenage women in our lives – not based on their appearance or image, but rather on their ability and potential.
In late 2013, a survey of 15,000 young people by Mission Australia found young women listed equality and discrimination as the key issue of national concern for the first time in the study’s 12-year history.
Young women care about equality. We need them to be aware of the power they have to change the future and ensure they have the confidence to participate.