In a move that puts to bed once and for all her statement at AIM’s Women in Management Great Debate in 2005 that “This is Australia – women don’t lead”, Julia Gillard today made history by becoming Australia’s first female Prime Minister.
In an environment where:
- less than 50% of ASX200 companies have women on their boards
- the percentage of female directors in those organisations is only 8.7% and
- the gender wage gap is steadily increasing,
Ms Gillard’s appointment is both inspirational and a very welcome wakeup call to corporate Australia.
“This is Australia – women don’t lead”
Along with HerBusiness Advisory Board members and herVoice champions Amy Lyden and Susan McGrath, I’ll soon be writing to Ms Gillard, to congratulate her on her appointment and introduce HerBusiness as Australia’s peak representative body for Australian businesswomen and female entrepreneurs. I’d like to include a list of public policy issues of concern to our members in that letter, so if you’d like your voice to be heard and your issue included in the list, please contact me via policy@abn.org.au, or on 1300 720 120.
Or, better still, add a COMMENT below.
Best wishes, Suzi Dafnis
P. S. The 2010 AIM Women in Management Great Debate will be held in Canberra on 2 July and Sydney on 27 August. I hope you’ll join me. Who knows who will say what?
