Happy International Women's Day

My wife and I have a slightly morbid fascination for movies based in nineteenth century Europe.?On the one hand we are captivated by the glamourous pomp and ceremony of their royalty and privileged high society, yet equally disturbed by the harsh and broad based injustices of the day.??Nowhere was this discrimination more stark than in the treatment of women, of all classes.?With limited access to education and career options, poor pay, their independence shunned, no vote, and definitely no power, their treatment by the male dominated society was shocking.

So fast forward to today and the question has to be asked, how far have we come??Of course, thanks to many initiatives and campaigns, including Australia's first International Women's Day held in Sydney in 1928 by the Militant Women's Movement, we have addressed many of the core inequalities such as voting, independence, access to education and employment, etc.?However there are still some glaring anomalies to address.?

In a recent LinkedIn article discussing Skill and Diversity I referenced the 2021 annual ASX200 Senior Executive Census by advocacy group Chief Executive Women, which revealed that only 10 women currently fill CEO roles at Australia’s ASX200 firms. Worse still, of the 50 CEO appointments made by these firms form 2019 to 2020, only 3 were women. With equivalent education, skills, and experience, there is only one reason why there remains so few women in these, and many other, leadership positions and that is BIAS, plain and simple. Conscious or unconscious, it doesn’t matter, and it needs to be eliminated urgently.?

That's why International Women's Day is such an important date.?While celebrating the important and incredible contributions made by women everywhere, everyday, it's also an opportunity for all my male colleagues to recommit to 'breaking the bias' by eliminating the remaining inequities in the workplace, including access to executive roles and, of course, equal pay for equal work.?

For this I'm proud to represent Engage Squared who, despite already having a 37% female mix within our Australia business (much higher than IT industry standards), continues to strongly support the broader Women Rising program, with significant awareness and development programs, including this year's International Women's Day company lunch to celebrate our female colleagues, a Lunch and Learn by 'Women in Tech' conference board member Karen Katz, a guest blog by former colleague Rabia Williams of Microsoft talking about female techies, and a donation to a local women's charity.

I would also like to acknowledge the many incredible women entrepreneurs, including my wife Khuraman Armstrong, who are blazing their own trails, and creating significant career and economic opportunities for others as they go.

Happy International Women's Day everyone!