Inside Perth's Women-only clubs by Kate Emery The West Australian newspaper

22 June 2016

BPW WA State President Kate Waters. Picture: Michael Wilson/The West Australian.

Tuesday 7 June 2016:  BPW Australia joined thought leaders from the private sector, sporting, academia and civil society to gather case studies from participants that (as examples) can be replicated and scaled up by business, governments and communities around the world. BPW Australia was alongside  captains of industry, the co-chairs, the Secretariat Representative and Women’s Leadership Institute Australia and Chief Executive Women. It was an amazing event!

This consultation was used not only to support high-level advocacy of women’s economic empowerment and increase its profile and support, but importantly, support the creation of a new roadmap for organisations globally who want to be bold and pro-active in inspiring and actioning measurable change towards a more rapid achievement of gender parity.

Find out more...

BPW International Past President Freda Miriklis and BPW Australia National President
Janis Shaw with delegates from the worlds of business, sport and not-for-profits 
gathered together to provide vital data for the United Nations report.

A BPW Australia delegation that included Susan Jones, BPW Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator, Marilyn Forsythe, BPW Pacific Regional Coordinator, and Carol Hanlon, Past President BPW Belmont, visited BPW Port Moresby for International Women’s Day 2016. It was inspirational for these BPW Australia members to witness the work of BPW Port Moresby supporting the education of young women and girls. In less than eight years, through the club’s Education Fund, more than 1600 girls have been funded to further their education. During visits at three schools, the girls told their stories about how the Fund is giving them a better life. The Education Fund has been supported by BPW Australia members for several years. If your club would like to support the Fund please contact Marilyn Forsythe at marilyn.forsythe@bigpond.com.  $400 Australian will fund support for a girl at high school for one year.

There are 20 places available in the BPW Swan Hill Stepping Up to Leadership Program, funded by the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal (FRRR) and delivered locally by BPW Swan Hill.  The Program is an ongoing opportunity for women in the region to improve themselves not just in business, but for those interested in our community to Step Up Into Leadership.

Applications are now open and close 5pm 15th April 2016.  Find out more...

Congratulations to Kate Jenkins who has been appointed as the next Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner on Thursday. Ms Jenkins follows the fantastic efforts of Elizabeth Broderick who left the role five months ago. Ms Jenkins is currently Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, and brought Male Champions of Change to the state. She is a specialist in employment law and is a director of Carlton Football Club, to which role she is brings her strong commitment to diversity in sport.

Ms Jenkins said that she will start out by listening to women from all walks of life, to ensure a consensus view on the focus for improvements in gender equality while she is Commissioner. "I think part of my role is to make sure that people more broadly understand" she said.

Professor Gillian Triggs, Human Rights Commission President, said that Ms Jenkins "brings a wealth of experience to the commission, especially law, and I am cofident that she will continue to contribute greatly to our work in advancing gender equality in Australia."

Ms Jenkins will take up the role on 18 April and BPW Australia will make every effort to support her work over the next five years.  

 Federal Health and Sports Minister Sussan Ley has announced that the Australian Government will require elite sporting bodies to provide equal travel and accommodation arrangements for their athletes. This position is well overdue, but is very welcome news coming in today.

Minister Ley said that she has notified sporting organisations who are funded by government that they will either provide gender-equal travel arrangements for their athletes, or face losing their funding. This is a great start toward real gender equality in sport, but there is still more to do. BPW Australia asks that the Government also address the issue of remuneration for women in sport which is understood to fall well below the earnings, whether as amateurs or professionals, of men in sport. We urge attention to this, starting with the collection of reliable data. We need sound, evidence-based policy, in order to keep gender equality in sport on the road to success.

Congratulations to the winners and nominees in the 2016 Australian of the Year awards. All those we heard about last night were so deserving and we proudly congratulate them all on their amazing achievements. It is particularly exciting that Lieutenant General David Morrison was named Australian of the Year, for his passion and commitment to gender equality, diversity and inclusiveness. Lt Gen Morrison is a significant Champion of Change for women's workforce participation. At the ceremony last night on the lawns of Parliament House, he said that as a nation it is essential that we provide opportunities for each and every one of us to reach our greatest potential. "Because when they do, we all benefit, and that's what true diversity is about and why I am so passionate about it and so honoured to have been chosen as your Australian of the Year in 2016," he said.  After the extraordinary leadership in 2015 of Rosie Batty's campaign against domestic violence, we can feel assured that David Morrison will bring on more public discussion and debate on the way to true gender equality in Australia.

Congratulations to Carol Hanlon, our BPW Belmont member, who has been nominated as a BPW International Delegate at this year's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations (UN) in New York.  For two weeks each March, the CSW turns the focus of the UN towards women and gender related issues worldwide.  It is the 60th anniversary of CSW and so this will be a particularly exciting meeting of many delegates from around the world, with the theme "Women's Empowerment and its Link to Sustainable Development".

While the CSW is in progress there will also be a range of parallel events, including seminars and workshops, held in the vicinity of the UN Headquarters. Carol has been selected from hundreds of applicants to facilitate one of the parallel forums "Empowering Women in Small Business", which is a specialty of her business initiative, Belmont BEC Inc, Carol has worked with many women across Australia and internationally for more than 20 years, delivering empowering skills training such as the CSW forum, and for this has been inducted into the West Australian Women's Hall of Fame for her passion and commitment to micro and small business, and supporting business owners to achieve their dreams.

If you would like to contact Carol with any issues that you believe she should be aware of in her representative role, please call her on +618 9479 37777, mobile +61 417 963 231, or email carol.hanlon@belmontbec.com. To find out more, Carol also has a website www.belmontbec.com.

In 2008, the South Australian Government established the SA Women's Honour Roll to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of women in our community and their commitment to effecting change.  In 2015, 30 women were honoured, including BPW members Sheila Evans OAM and Gillian Lewis.·      

Sheila was honoured as a pioneer of women’s safety and support, recognising that she founded one of the first women’s shelters in SA in 1975 and continues to work tirelessly on the South Australian White Ribbon Breakfast Committee. 

Sheila is a long-term BPW member and established BPW Adelaide Hills.

Gillian was honoured as a passionate campaigner against domestic violence and for her work with BPW.

Gillian conceived and established the Adelaide White Ribbon Breakfast in 2006, bringing together women’s groups and men as White Ribbon Ambassadors, and continues as Co-convenor of the Committee. 

The 2015 White Ribbon Breakfast attracted an audience of 1200 to hear speaker Rosie Batty. It has been growing each year to become one of the largest annual events in South Australia.  We’re proud to see our BPW banner prominent at the breakfast, and very proud of Gillian and Sheila. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsYFamXEOmk

View the 2015 South Australian Women’s Honour Roll.