L-R: Genevieve Jacobs AM, Amanda Story, Aunty Violet Sheridan, Padma Raman PSM, Kate Driver

On 27 February, we held our annual International Women’s Day breakfast and Helen Williams Oration. Exploring this year’s IWD theme, Count Her In: Invest in Women, Accelerate Change, Padma Raman PSM, executive director of the Office of Women at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, discussed the work being done to progress gender equality and economic outcomes for women and pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls.

Kate Driver, IPAA ACT CEO, delivered the opening remarks, and Aunty Violet Sheridan, Ngunnawal Elder, welcomed us to Country. Amanda Story, partner and government leader at MinterEllison, Canberra, gave the vote of thanks, and Genevieve Jacobs AM, group editor of Region Media, skillfully hosted the event.

Here are some key takeaways from Ms Raman’s keynote:

❗Despite great efforts, violence against women persists
❗Care work is not valued, or remunerated poorly
❗Australia’s women are very educated, but the gender pay gap still exists
❗We have more women in leadership than ever before, yet many women experience high rates of abuse online
❗Intersectional challenges persist
💡Government needs to make conscious decisions to dismantle gender inequality
💡Public servants can provide governments with good evidence-based advice to support this
💡A gender lens can help reveal how new policy proposal affects women and men differently
💡Data is crucial to understanding where challenges remain and how to address them
💡Data collection of intersectional challenges needs to be improved
💡 Government campaigns need to be based on good data and not reinforce stereotypes
💡 Lived experience needs to be reflected in policymaking
💡 Gender equality hasn’t been achieved yet and there’s been backlash – we need to remain vigilant

Policies and programs to check out:
📝Paid parental leave reforms
📝Plan to end violence against women
📝Gender-responsive budgeting
📝Government Gender Report Card
📝National Women’s Alliances
📝National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality

Transcript – a copy of the transcript is available here.
Video – a video of the event is below or can be viewed on the IPAA ACT Vimeo channel.