Women of the 21st Centrury

Today I attended the Women's Advisory Council symposium: "Women of the 21st Century"
Unfortunately I found out and only late last week so was unable to prepare well for the day.... I had no expectations.... in fact I had no idea of what was in store for me.


The Women's Advisory Council was appointed by the Minister for Women's Interests, the Hon Robyn McSweeney MLC in January 2010. The Council comprises 13 interesting and inspiring women who want to make a difference and improve Western Australian women's lives.

The Council has chosen, as one of its priority areas, women and their economic security. An important objective is to discuss and develop recommendations relating to key issues, including access to superannuation benefits, independent source of income (self-reliance), increased education levels not corresponding with higher incomes, impact of stereotyping of women in the media and the ongoing effects of that stereotyping, and the under-representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles.

There were approximately 120 women....although that is a guess on my part. The day for me commenced at 0830 as I did not go to the breakfast at 7am.
The key note speaker for the first plenary session was Anne Riches, Leadership and Challenge Management Consultant: Australia's top speaker 2010 (National Speakers Association). I was truly inspired by this woman.... Anne spoke about women being judged on face value.... there was a case of a top executive who looked to sexy dressed in a business suit...therefore was distracting her male counterparts.....so she was dismissed...(tragedy)she took them to court for unfair dismissal. Also that women are not supported by other women they are threatened..... and I thought it was only the midwifery & nursing professions that did this, but no, it is a broader issue... I was enlightened when Anne spoke about her experiences with the AMA, to find that it's not just midwives that have a problem with them but it's women in general. The points that were most useful for me where those of having to change mindsets...and mindsets do not change easily (a bit like old habits die hard). We have changed legislation, regulations to help women and we still have equality problems, why is this? because mindsets have to be changed and as women we need to focus on changing our language and mindset as well. Women battle with mindsets.... expectations of what women should be doing a mixture of motherhood and working life.... How do we support other women to ask for more money...to ask for what we are worth???? We need to lead by example.... watching our own mindset in order to bring about change..an example of this would be when you hear someone say "what I need is a good wife".. we need to understand the language of men to bring about change.... logic will not do it in order to change mindset we also need male mentors to support the notion of change....how do we do this?.... we need to consult with the stakeholders...hard wired mindsets come from fear and lack of self confidence.....we need successful role models to change mindsets.... we need research to support us.... I am going to suggest that as Midwives we need to get obstetricians on side so that mindsets will change.. this takes time and effort.....

Ms Anne Riches


The afternoon was concurrent sessions.. it was really hard for me to decide which sessions to go to as I wanted to go to them all....

First session: Employment - I was hoping to get answers for our midwifery issues regarding employers and Midwifery Group Practice....no such luck....the session covered superannuation (GESB), Woodside mining (engineers) and Brightwater (Health): interesting session: Woodside - issues of retaining graduates - that 40% of graduates where women of which they lose half after 20 yrs so they are not going into middle or high management therefore leaving a gap...and half do not re enter the workforce. GESB - is a company that is predominately female executives and a successful company - issues of inequality of superannuation for women and most women are not adequately covered as they work part-time or take time out for children. Brightwater - discussed the low pay of carers and not having enough staff to cover the aging population.

Second session: Stereotyping of Women in Media;this was truly a surprise: the presenters were all dynamic women as expected...however the figures they presented are staggering in terms of how few women influence the media; Sue Taylor spoke of the making of her movie "The Tree" and how hard as a women it was to finance; as it is a male dominated industry....she also spoke about setting up a kids corner on the set for childcare for her children and the other women on the production....

Some interesting facts that have come from American research... girls watch lead men and women in movies.... boys however only watch lead men not lead girls..girls choose a mixture of sexes....but boys only choose boys....there is only 3-7% of female directors; there are 2.5 male actors to 1 female actor..and after the age of 40 females drop dramatically.

Celia Tait - SBS- Who do you think you are? what an amazing woman.... Celia said women leave the industry because it is a tough business.... women in TV - 5000 women left the industry compared to 750 men... wow.. and 63% of the women choose not to have children..they choose their career....Celia's focus has been on women's issues such as fertility etc....

Ruth Callaghan: Journalist. Academic at ECU; Ruth explains that for every story males are more representative of women, men are reported as the expert as opposed to women....women over 50 just don't make it ....women are also portrayed as victims and passive, they have not been recognised for there achievements or intelligence. She did say there is some good news that 75% of the journalist students are female.
You need more women in top position in order for things to change....this will take a long time because it is a male dominated industry.....

This session really highlighted for me how difficult it is to get a fair go in the media...it is predominately a private industry dominated by men with a mindset not willing to change at this time...and much work is required....no wonder we do not get anywhere with the press.....and putting women in these positions will not be easy as child care and family life are equally as important to women in current positions that work part-time.

The closing keynote speaker was Ms June Oscar; CEO Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre (Fitzroy Crossing. June spoke eloquently about community life and the role that women play within that community..... June also compared the indigenous plight to that of the recent movie Avatar... the special role of spirituality and women as related in Avatar....she was truly inspiring..... it was food for thought....

The day ended with some recommendations being presented to Robyn McSweeny MLC; the Hon Minister for Child Protection; Community Services; Seniors and Volunteering; Women's Interest, which will be on the website for comment www.communities.wa.gov.au if you would like to add a comment or recommendation you can do so....

I have gained many things from today..... mostly as women we have come a long way but there is still a long way to go...and I did not realise the impact of the mindset until today..it was like I had an epiphany...we must work together remember our passion, spirituality and led by example. A special thank you to all those who presented today......