Women’s Voice

Did you see the article on Coalition Women given the silent treatment in SMH today http://www.smh.com.au/national/coalition-women-given-the-silent-treatment-in-parliament-20090914-fnwa.html?skin=text-only? What do you think? Discrimination? Women taking the second place? Women not speaking up? Boy’s Club?

This is an important question for both men and women.  Even if we have women at the table do they get heard and if not, why not?

Chief Executive Women’s (CEW) Dinner

Last night I attended the CEW dinner at the Westin.  About 800 people attended including probably 10% men.  Naseema Sparks spoke of the CEW and it work “women leaders enabling women leaders” and how much we need to support women in Australia to get closer to inclusive workplaces.  Gail Kelly spoke about leadership.  I loved her comment you want the right people on the bus going in the right direction.  Her other key take out for me was being present in whatever you are doing.  If you are with family be with them totally, if you are at work do that….. This focus bring productivity and success.  In my work through Xplore for Success I often experience women (and men) who spend time at work wishing they were elsewhere and time at home thinking about work.  To be ‘present’ is not always easy but the reward great.

How does a migrant get their first job here?

If everyone says you need to have had a job here?

Thilaka arrived from Sri Lanka about 6 months ago. She has completed a course in Australia and speaks good (but not perfect) English. She spoke at our Suited for Work dinner last night and was a real hit.

Here are her qualifications:

2009 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (Currently following) TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute, Australia

2008 Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education University of Colombo – Sri Lanka

2007 Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education Indira Gandhi National Open University – India

2003 Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems (MIS) degree with Honours University College Dublin – Ireland

She needs a break to get her first job in Australia. She is really keen and would love an opportunity. Here are her key attributes:

• IT Teaching: Over eight years experience in preparing IT teaching materials and teaching online and face-to-face at university, vocational education and secondary school levels.

• Curriculum Development: Over four years experience in designing and developing curriculums for IT degree programmes. • Training and Assessment: Over eight years experience in preparing and conducting IT training and assessments for university and vocational education level.

• Communication: Bilingual – Excellent command of written/spoken English/Sinhalese. Over eight years experience in conducting presentations, online tutoring and mentoring and academic and non-academic counseling.

If you email me at diryall@mac.com I will send her full resume to you. Please help her get a break and get started in OZ (she will be on the channel 10 news between 5 and 6 pm tomorrow….Di

Women and their progress

I really want women to take the time to work out what they want from their lives both their career and all the other bits – family, friends, personal fitness and health, financial situation, everything.  Then sit down and work out what the first steps are in each of these areas.  Then have the confidence to take the first step!  If you need a help then find it!

When we talk about the glass ceiling there are certainly barriers to cross and detour around but also women need to speak openly and rationally about money, their career aspirations and their successes.  We need to practice these skills and then use them.  Mentors help to open doors and offer advice, networks provide opportunities.  Opportunities are there, bias is there, but if we are clear about our goals and go for them, then progress will be made.

The challenges of a new not for profit

Over the last 18 months, I have been involved with a group starting up a new not-for-profit in Sydney. Called Suited for Work it provides work clothing and support for disadvantaged wormn seeking to re-enter the workforce. Modelled on Dress for Success and other similar organisations good used work clothes are donated by women most in the workplace. A number of challenges face a new charity; getting all the right approvals, getting a group of people prepared to give their time and of course money. Each quarter we run a fund-raising dinner and on September 15 we have a film nigh pre-release of Valentino. If you would like to know more about what we are doing in Sydney you can find us at www.sfw.org.au. Of course, donations of money, clothes, time and expertise are what we need to make a difference.

A trip to Italy….

I have been silent for a while as I popped off to Italy and have only just emerged from the jet-lag cloud….

What a wonderful time.  I spent a week learning more Italian in Verona at Lingua.it.  Verona is a delightful city and staying in an Italian home was fantastic.  (www.lingua.it)  How special to be a part of real family life.

Then a week at San Felice di Benaco on Lake Garda with my son and his family.  This small but wonderful town was a relaxing retreat.  It had everything in an easy walk: restaurants, cafes, suppermarket, butcher, fishmonger and of course the lake was not too far.

Why is gender diversity off the agenda?

Why as women do we tolerate the situation in Australia today.  Yesterday I attended a roundtable with Ines Alberdi of Spain is is the Executive Director of UNIFEM.  We talked about many factors that affected the success of women in Australia in organisations and why we are so far behind.  Liz Broderick tabled the briefing note on Gender Equality Stats 2009 for Australia.  It is a document well worth reviewing although very depressing.  Here are a few that resonated with me: Australia is ranked 41st for women’s participation in the workforce, women undertake two thirds of the unpaid work in Australian households, women earan 84.3 cent in the male dollar, 22% of women have experienced sexual harassment and are four times more likely than men to experience this in the workplace.

Many young women believe the problem is no longer there and yet the pay difference starts in the first year of work.  Within 5 years it becomes apparent that women get less opportunity to work on the ‘top’ projects and it goes on from there.  All this happens long before ‘babies’ although that is often the excuse.  How can we make it change?

Can you support Suited for Work?

Suited for Work fundraising: Dinner September 7, Film night September 15, Raffle – The Wine Society

Help us help disadvantaged women become self-sufficient

Do you agree? – Women ‘won’t push for better pay’

In the SMH this morning the further supported the view that women won’t push for better pay.  So many women seem to believe that if they do a good job they will be remunerated fairly.  Unfortunately that doesn’t often happen.  Men talk about their performance and relate it to remuneration almost every time.  They talk about money about four times as often as women – see the research by HBR “Nice Girls Don’t Ask”.  It is really important for women to learn how to negotiate better especially in terms of their salary package.  See the full article at http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/women-x2018wonx2019t-push-for-better-payx2019-20090803-e7ar.html

What is an inclusive workplace?

Someone asked me today what makes an inclusive workplace.  Here are some of my thoughts. It is a workplace where:

• where leaders are aware of themselves and their strengths
• where leader look to be surround by others with different strengths
• where leaders understand that they WILL have subconscious biases and how to manage them
• where leaders are transparent and honest and ensure that all their people have opportunity to grow
• where leaders are the role models for the behaviours they want in their organisation
• and people feel valued regardless of their style, gender, background or disability