PYMBLE LADIES’ COLLEGE is proud to partner with the Australian Financial Review for the second edition of our International Women’s Day magazine for business leaders.
Our students, educators and alumni have contributed to this magazine to spark conversations around the IWD theme for this year:
Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress
This publication aligns perfectly with our school’s strategic plan, Watch Us Change the World, by showcasing the phenomenal progress made by female leaders and trailblazers across a range of businesses, professions and industries.
BY DR KATE HADWEN PhD. MEd. MNTCW. BTeach. MAICD PRINCIPAL, PYMBLE LADIES’ COLLEGEIt also provides a platform to launch the second phase of our Chairs for Change, a program that encourages corporations to join us in replacing the term “chairman” with “chair”, “Chairman’s Lounge” with “Chair’s Lounge” and, well, you get the point. Working closely with WomenOnBoards, we hope Chairs for Change will achieve its goal of deepening the talent pool of women in leadership and making gender redundant in business, once and for all.
The big question is, of course, what’s in it for you and your workplace? Why should AFR readers care about investing in women and accelerating their progress in the workplace?
The answer is simple: increased profitability, performance and productivity.
Research conducted by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that:
• Profitability, performance and productivity increase under female leadership.
• Female top-tier managers add 6.6 per cent to the market value of ASX-listed companies.
• Female leadership will help businesses thrive in a
Edited by BARBARA COSSONpost-COVID-19 world.
Specifically, the research found that an increase of 10 percentage points or more in female representation on the boards of ASX companies led to a 4.9 per cent increase in each company’s market value, worth the equivalent of $78.5 million for the average company. It also translated into a 6 per cent increase in the likelihood of a company outperforming its peers on three or more metrics.
Who wouldn’t want to share stats like that during their performance review?
Furthermore, the What Women Want – And Why You Want Women in the Workplace report, produced by the Centre for Creative Leadership, tells us that in organisations with a higher percentage of women, both male and female employees reported:
• More job satisfaction.
• More organisational dedication.
• More meaningful work.
• Greater employee engagement and retention.
• More opportunity to make a difference.
• Less burnout.
As business leaders, we’ve come a long way. However, while we get that gender balance and inclusivity is good for business, this is yet to translate into capitalising on the latent capacity that lies in many organisations still under-represented by women who may well unlock a whole new world of potential.
My hope is that in the not-too-distant future we have no need for publications like this one. In the meantime, thank you for taking the time to read a little, reflect a little and possibly instigate a small change or two to help make your place of work an even better performing, more profitable and increasingly productive place for all.
THE THEME FOR THIS YEAR’S International Women’s Day – Count her in: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress – is all about improving the pace of change towards gender equality, according to Simone Clarke, the chief executive of UN Women Australia.
Clarke is optimistic that a new generation of both women and men has the skills, understanding and mindset to keep moving us forward. “I do hold great hope for the next generation because I see them challenging social norms,” she says.
From the #MeToo movement to mandating consent education and lobbying for new consent laws, young women are continuing to bring inequalities out from the shadows.
Clarke says young women are working to re-frame how young men think and act towards women, rejecting societal body image pressures and calling for concerted action on reproductive, mental and broader health challenges that were once often taboo.
“When women are given the education, tools and resources to enable them to be economically independent, everyone benefits.”
SIMONE CLARKE, CEO, UN WOMEN AUSTRALIA
“I think [the next generation] will create a different workplace.” She expects there will be more discussion about how to create better career paths for women.
Clarke acknowledges the huge strides being made in some areas. For example, workplace environments have changed dramatically and are far more welcoming to women. While there are still many maledominated sectors, there are few places women fear to tread.
However, she says cultural, structural and systemic issues continue to impact on women’s ability to take on leadership roles.
Putting more women in leadership is critical, Clarke explains, because “with a place at the decision-making table, women leaders can help shape nations and change communities”.
Corporate lawyer and Pymble Ladies’ College deputy chair Melinda Graham says that meaningful numbers of women in the highest echelons of the law such as “judges, senior barristers, equity partners in law firms, deans of law schools and general counsel of listed corporations” is only happening now despite 50 per cent of law graduates being women when she graduated in 1988.
Graham worries that improvements in paid parental
leave and recent social policies that support worklife balance, such as working from home, are not yet institutionalised, and to different degrees remain politicised. “In short, the place of educated women in Australian society is not yet assured,” she notes. “It remains fragile.”
“In short, the place of educated women in Australian society is not yet assured.”
MELINDA GRAHAM, LAWYER, PYMBLE LADIES’ COLLEGE DEPUTY CHAIR
Clarke agrees and says that while social expectations around women’s responsibility for care and household work remain entrenched, women’s full participation in the economy and in workplaces remains undermined.
This is compounded by a lack of financial independence, which underpins many of the inequalities women continue to face.
According to Clarke, women with financial resources are better able to escape violent relationships, are less likely to experience poverty and more likely to enjoy a secure retirement.
“When women are given the education, tools and resources to enable them to be economically independent, everyone benefits. We have a more stable society, a greater spread of wealth, improved productivity in the workplace and economies can grow.”
Buoyed by progress in 2023, a year that witnessed many firsts, women are pushing new boundaries in Australian sport and making the whole world sit up and take notice, writes
Melinda HamALICE TARNAWSKI, 29, a part-time professional sailor, exemplifies the determination of an athlete breaking barriers for women in sport.
In 2022, she and co-skipper Clare Constanzo were rescued after 14 hours adrift on the hull of a racing yacht. They had capsized at night while on a qualifying passage for the two-handed category in that year’s Sydney to Hobart.
Undeterred, Tarnawski took on the 2023 race in the high-pressure role as navigator on URM Group, the only woman among 21 crew on the 72-foot Maxi that finished second overall. The winning yacht, Alive, had a woman navigator too, Adrienne Cahalan, a pioneering Australian yachtswoman. The race had a record number of nine female skippers.
Offshore sailing may be having its moment. For the first time in its 173-year history, this year’s America’s Cup Challenge – the oldest international sports contest still running – will have a women’s competition. Australia’s team includes Olympian Nina Curtis.
“Women such as Nina have long been role models for us all … showing there’s a pathway to reach your goal.”
ALICE TARNAWSKI, PROFESSIONAL SAILOR
“Women such as Nina have long been role models for us all, and the younger girls, showing there’s a pathway to reach your goal,” says Tarnawski.
Across Australia, athletes, coaches and sports administrators are challenging age-old tropes about women’s participation in sport. The Matildas’ World Cup soccer success – the first time a senior men’s or women’s team has made it into the semi-finals – shook up the perception of women and girls’ involvement in sport, says Professor Clare Hanlon, Susan Alberti Women in Sport Chair at Victoria University.
“It had a profound effect, and many commentators say it has created generational change for women in sports,” says Hanlon. “Of course, the women players were amazing and that’s certainly worth celebrating. But, off field, TV viewing records were smashed, games were sold out across the country and more Matildas jerseys were sold before the Women’s World Cup began than the Socceroos during and after the Men’s World Cup in Qatar.”
Younger soccer players, such as 20-year-old Sarah Hunter, pictured at left, are now living the dream. After making her debut with the Matilda’s senior team in December last year, she’s currently being considered for the Olympics. In the meantime, she’s signed a three-year contract with Paris FC Division 1 having played a year with Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC.
“It’s been a really crazy experience,” says Hunter, a graduate of Pymble Ladies’ College and now part way through an exercise science degree at the University of Sydney. “We played in a champions league, the top league for all the teams in Europe. So, we just played Chelsea, Real Madrid, Arsenal – all these really big teams.”
As a long-time Chelsea fan before she became a professional, her most exciting moment so far was playing at the famous club’s home ground at Stamford Bridge Stadium, London. “It was a total dream to play there.”
Hunter says she hopes that the Matildas’ success will have a ripple effect across sports – from the grassroots up.
“It’s changing the funding for junior programs and development squads, and that goes through all levels. Having the women players to look up to is getting a lot of girls interested and that affects the sport’s future growth.”
Chloe Dalton, 30, pictured at right, started out playing rugby in her backyard with her brothers but never imagined she’d be standing on a podium with her team winning gold in the women’s Rugby 7s at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In the year running up to the Games she’d fractured her arm three times. With the help of a 12-centimetre pin and nine screws she was able to play. Her team’s Olympic gold was an inspiration for girls playing rugby across Australia.
“The gold ignited an incredible flow-on effect in participation numbers in young girls starting to play rugby after that,” says Dalton. “I got so many messages and emails from parents who’d held their kids back from school because the game was on at school starting time, and they all wanted to watch us.”
Dalton, also a Pymble alumna, is one of those inspiring athletes who has played at the elite level in not one, but three sports.
She started off playing basketball for the Sydney Uni Flames in the Women’s National Basketball League and then Rugby 7s at the Rio Olympics, before then switching to AFLW, playing first for Carlton and currently as a medium defender for the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
While high-profile individual athletes can and do inspire change, the momentum in sport for women and girls comes from players who have a vision to drive change in the less glamorous business of making sport work for women – taking on issues such as pay
equity, age-old uniform rules, lack of facilities, and strengthening networks and governance.
Take Laura Kane, the first female executive general manager of football at the Australian Football League (AFL), appointed in August 2023. She’s also one of the highest-ranking women in a leadership position across any football code. Kane took on the role having been a player and coach.
“You need to shift the culture of any organisation. This only happens when the board table or the meeting room represents the community …”
LAURA KANE, EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER, AFL
“You need to shift the culture of any organisation,” she says. “This only happens when the board table or the meeting room represents the community, it’s diverse and it represents a whole different set of views – and it gets women in leadership roles in sport who can then make decisions.”
Kane has always been driven by a larger vision. When there weren’t any Australian Rules teams available for teenage girls to play anywhere in Melbourne – back in the early 2000s – she formed one with her school friends.
“One day, I was walking home from school when I was about 12 and I saw these women training and playing AFL,” she recalls. “I ran all the way home and screamed to my mum: ‘There were women playing footy!’” This was the University of Melbourne’s women’s team and Kane and her mother went back to the oval and asked if she could train with them.
“One day, I was walking home from school when I was about 12 and I saw these women training and playing AFL. I ran all the way home and screamed to my mum: ‘There were women playing footy!’”LAURA KANE, EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER, AFL
Since she was four years old, Kane had played in boys’ teams but once she’d reached year 6, this was no longer allowed, a typical experience for many. For the next three years, Kane trained with the university squad but couldn’t play games because she was too young for senior women’s football and there was no youth league.
So, in year 10, Kane called up all of her friends – about 20 girls – and formed a team for the first Youth Girls League, an under-18 AFL girls’ competition held in 2004. The AFL’s women’s league, the AFLW, didn’t launch until 2017 but today has women’s teams representing each of the original 18 AFL clubs.
Focusing attention on women in sport is critical, too, especially when mainstream media coverage is lagging. Dalton launched her own weekly sports podcast, the [Female] Athlete Project to address the visibility issue that persists today. With more than 120,000 followers, the podcast celebrates women athletes across all manner of sports, such as rock climbing, boxing or surfing (and, of course, football) accompanied by an active social media presence.
Equity with men’s competitions in terms of financial reward is also important. Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) struck in a range of domestic codes in 2023 began to tackle issues such as minimum salaries, working conditions, travel arrangements and a medium-term plan to get women athletes to become full-time professionals.
“This is so important because it allows female athletes to focus solely on what they need to do to perform and compete at their best,” Dalton says.
Regardless of gender, Australian cricketers receive the same base pay rate, under the current memorandum of understanding agreed with the Australian Cricketers’ Association in 2017.
Prize-money parity is also improving. Tennis Australia and Cricket Australia have had gender parity for years. In tennis, prize money is equal across all Grand Slam tournaments. The Australian Open first awarded equal prize money in 1984, and all four slams were doing so by 2007. In cricket, the men’s and women’s Big Bash tournaments have offered equal prize money since the 2017-
The AFL introduced prize money parity in 2023, while the NSW government this year requires all sporting peak bodies to provide a plan for equal prize money when they apply
Making sport welcoming and inclusive for everyone to participate from the grassroots up is still a work in progress. Dalton says that she’s always disheartened when she hears of young girls starting a sport but then quitting it.
“It might be that they’re given a uniform that doesn’t fit them because it’s a hand me down from the men’s team,” Dalton says. “It might be that they’re conscious of their body in a tight uniform or worried about having their period in a pair of white shorts.”
Dr Adele Pavlidis, associate professor in sociology at Griffith University in Queensland, says there’s “a huge dropoff rate” at around 14 years of age for young people in sport.
Pymble Ladies’ College has joined forces with Australia’s most successful international basketballer, Lauren Jackson, to launch a new basketball academy.
The enterprise supports Pymble’s efforts to provide more pathways for young women into elite sport, potentially improving their chances of competing at Olympic level through the best coaching and nurturing.
Jackson, who heads up Women in Basketball for Basketball Australia, is a four-time Olympic Games medallist and five-time World Cup medallist. She is the only Australian inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of fame in the US, located in Springfield Massachusetts, where basketball was born.
Jackson will provide specialised coaching to Pymble students from years 3 to 12.
Principal Dr Kate Hadwen said the launch provides a new sporting pathway for all girls, whether they wish to try the game as beginners or they have their sights set on competing at an elite level.
“It’s boys, too, but mostly girls and we know from research that the reasons are complicated, with some studies noting that body image and shame form part of those barriers. If we create a more inclusive culture, it’s helping boys, men and nonbinary people as well.”
Over the past year, following revelatory research by Hanlon and her team at Victoria University about women’s opinions on their sports uniforms nationally and internationally, AFLW and Cricket Victoria no longer require players to wear white shorts or pants, while Swimming Australia, Gymnastics Australia and Netball Australia, have all introduced flexible uniforms.
“These changes show that the leadership in these sports care about women and girls feeling comfortable,” says Hanlon.
Governance is critical, too. After being a player, Kane became a coach and then administrator. In 2015, she began working with the North Melbourne Football Club as they bid for one of the licences to have a women’s team in the inaugural AFLW competition. She experienced first-hand all the discussions about how facilities would have to be expanded to provide enough change rooms and toilets for girls.
Dalton is also part of the Minerva Network, which partners female athletes with C-suite women to mentor them, while “creating networks, as well as training and equipping women to join boards and lead sporting organisations.”
Hanlon says that while Australia has seen a lot of progress for women’s sports, there is more to be done. “We’ve had a lot of game-changing situations occur for women as players last year, but let’s bring on more opportunities for women as leaders this
A record Australian TV audience of more than 11 million watched the Matildas’ World Cup semi-final loss to England.
Prize-money parity for men and women was introduced for the AO tennis championship in 1984; Big Bash cricket in 2018; the AFL in 2023.
46% of Australian girls to age 14 participate in sport outside of school hours at least once a week, according to the ASC.
year – as coaches, umpires, officials, managers or board members. We need to make leadership spaces more family friendly.”
The experience of other women, such as sailor Nina Curtis, who had a baby in May 2023 and is soon to compete in the Women’s America’s Cup event in Spain, is inspiring for women whichever sport they play, says yachtswoman Tarnawski. “You can push yourself, grow professionally in the sport and you can have a family too.”
PROFESSOR TANYA MONRO (pictured above) can claim numerous firsts: she was the first female professor of physics appointed to the University of Adelaide. Now, she is Australia’s first female chief defence scientist within the Department of Defence. Her professional experience brings invaluable insights for the next generation of trailblazers.
“Creating a pathway for future women leaders means continuing to ensure the success of women,” she argues. “That requires strong leadership and a commitment to change. For me, that means creating the right environment for women to thrive.”
Monro says that while capable women are attracted to leadership roles, we need to start doing something very different to keep them there and to ensure there is a diversity of the type of women who apply for such roles.
“In my role at defence, I have championed cultural change, creating a culture centred on inclusion and removing barriers to employment for a diverse range of people.”
Monro says the transformation agenda at the department includes becoming an example to other organisations when it comes to providing career opportunities for women.
Defence is looking to bolster its female representation by implementing a 50 per cent target for women’s participation across certain career pathways. This includes entry-level programs, such as the STEM Cadetship Program and the Research
and Innovation Pathway of the Defence Graduate Program, as well as NAVIGATE.
Monro says it is a joy to see how far organisations such as defence have come in encouraging female participation.
“I see it as a personal mission, and I know many other trailblazers do too, to try to teach young women and girls about their talent and ability to contribute, and to have the courage and determination to achieve all they aspire to do, while continuing to support and encourage male allyship in the workplace.”
DR DIASWATI MARDIASMO, (pictured below) chief economist with real estate group PRD National, is another trailblazer who has achieved remarkable milestones during her career.
Mardiasmo is the youngest chief economist in the property sector and the youngest member of PRD and Colliers International’s executive team. She is also the youngest board member at Multicultural Australia, sits on the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Legacy Committee, and is a member of the Property Council of Australia’s Residential Committee.
Her advice to future trailblazers? “Say yes, then
figure out how to do it,” Mardiasmo says. “The more you say yes to the weird and wonderful, the more you are building hard knowledge like expertise and also soft knowledge. This is the ability to learn, challenge yourself, be calm and think strategically about how can you tackle an issue.
“The idea is to broaden your horizon, the people you meet and the networks and connections you create. All of this makes up the important fabrics that will take you to that next step of leadership.”
Remove the pressure to be perfect. By
FROM FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE to championing children’s rights, they are the high-achieving women making a difference in the world.
But behind the scenes, how do Climate Change Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie and TV presenter Mel Doyle ensure their own needs are met?
Like many successful women, McKenzie (pictured left) estimates she gets half an hour of “me time” a day, as she juggles two young children and her crusade to save the planet.
Doyle has adopted many hats since exiting breakfast television, her life a busy mix of redcarpet events, TV, radio and hosting duties, writing books and performing ambassador roles for charities including World Vision and the Make-AWish Foundation.
McKenzie, one of Australia’s climate trailblazers, is a meticulous planner, a trait she has honed to help manage competing demands. It’s not uncommon for friends to receive a text message from her in January, asking to slot in a June catch-up.
“I try to plan every facet of my life in a short window of a few days in January,” she says. “I book every dentist appointment, haircut, birthday party and holiday. My wellbeing through the year comes down to having effective planning and efficiency gains within my personal and professional life.”
Removing the pressure to be perfect helps to keep her head above water, as do daily walks, Pilates and a support crew that includes her husband, a tight-knit group of school friends and her beloved book club.
“I am being very deliberate about the fact that in this period of my life, kids and work are my priorities, as is maintaining my friendships, even if that’s mainly on WhatsApp,” says McKenzie, whose children are 2 and 5.
Despite a glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle, Doyle (pictured right) is a self-confessed homebody, and loves walking her dog, gardening, family time and hosting dinner parties.
When returning home from harrowing stories in the past – or after witnessing extreme poverty overseas with World Vision – she would often head straight for the kitchen.
Elissa Doherty“The first thing I would do was bake biscuits for the kids,” recalls the former Pymble Ladies’ College student. “That was my grounding moment.”
She says taking her two children, Nick, 22, and Talia, 20, on charity trips to developing countries to “show them what really matters” has also been fulfilling.
In her journalism career, Doyle says covering tragic events such as the Syrian refugee crisis, Black Saturday bushfires and Beaconsfield mine disaster has left scars.
“Those stories have always taken a bit of a toll because I can’t just up and walk away and never think of them again,” she says. “So, for me, that’s been part of my need to give back.”
Personally, the most challenging period of her career was raising two children in her 30s when rising at 3am to co-host Sunrise.
“The first thing I would do was bake biscuits for the kids. That was my grounding moment.”
MELISSA DOYLE
“At different points of your life you have different priorities, and I’m lucky I’ve got wonderful friends who understood that I didn’t have much of a social life for a good decade,” she says.
Climate warrior McKenzie embarked on a path to change the public conversation on global warming after being struck with “missionary zeal” to tackle the issue as a teenager.
An armoury of strategies has helped build her self-belief in a male-dominated field, including regular pep talks and training in assertive body language techniques. But despite winning a string of awards, including Young Environmentalist of the Year in 2009, and being listed among the Westpac 100 Women of Influence, she says self-belief is not “static”. She still must push herself to “be brave” in confronting situations.
“Don’t beat yourself up when you drop a few balls,” says Doyle. “When it all goes to mess, it’s important that you’ve got the right people around you to remind you that it’s going to be OK, and tomorrow’s a new day.”
ABOUT A DECADE AGO, Stela Solar was in the US listening to a panel of male engineers discussing digital assistants – the Alexas and Siris of the world.
“I asked them, ‘Why is it that all the digital assistants have female voices?’” says Solar, who is now director of Australia’s National Artificial Intelligence Centre, which is hosted by CSIRO’s Data61.
“It really bothered me,” Solar says. “At that time, some of the digital assistants even had physical or visual manifestations, and they were such stereotypes.”
“If you don’t have a lot of diversity on the design team, then you see the problem differently.”
PROFESSOR MARY-ANNE WILLIAMS, PICTURED BELOW
But the all-male panel didn’t have an answer, she adds. “I think they just didn’t think about it.”
Solar notes it’s far from the only time gender disparity has resulted in technology that fails to cater for everyone.
She points to crash test dummies being modelled on men, which means women are more likely to suffer serious injuries in vehicle accidents.
Or the fact that women experience some different symptoms for a heart attack than men do. Medical data hasn’t always reflected this because it’s been either
Source: UNESCO, drawing on global research and data
IMPROVE THE PARTICIPATION, ACHIEVEMENT AND CONTINUATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN IN STEM EDUCATION AND CAREERS TO REDUCE THE GENDER GAP IN STEM PROFESSIONS
EXPAND QUALITY WORK FOR WOMEN IN THE AI SECTOR
SHOWCASE WOMEN AI TRAILBLAZERS AS ROLE MODELS
PROVIDE MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR AI ASPIRANTS
ADDRESS GENDER PAY GAPS IN AI TO BRING MORE WOMEN INTO THE SECTOR AND SUPPORT THEIR PROFESSIONAL GROWTH.
male-centric, or not labelled by gender, says Solar.
“Only now are we starting to collect that diversity and realising these differences. And artificial intelligence is helping us untangle some of this because AI is so connected to the data that we have in our society.”
Professor Mary-Anne Williams has been at the forefront of AI for three decades, and now leads the UNSW Business AI Lab.
Women were something of a rarity when she started out in tech and the change isn’t moving fast enough, she says. “It’s such a problem – we need more women leading innovation.”
In 2022, only 3 per cent of Australia’s total venture capital funding went to all-female founded startups, according to the report The State of Australian Startup Funding
However, Williams notes that it’s not just women that AI needs more of – it’s a wide range of people in general. “If you don’t have a lot of diversity on the design team, then you see the problem differently.”
It’s clear many more women are required if technology is to reflect the society it serves, rather than replicating existing biases.
So, where do the opportunities lie for young women thinking of following this career path? And what can be done to make it more attractive?
Williams says there’s plenty of opportunity in AI,
particularly because it’s no longer essential to be a programming whiz.
Countless tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Copilot can accelerate understanding and capability, she says.
Generative AI will likely help the gender disparity become less pronounced, she hopes. “I think it’ll potentially happen naturally if more women just start using it.”
Excitingly, Williams says the power no longer lies with programmers, but with the people who understand the problem that needs to be solved.
And she believes young women will pursue AI careers in greater numbers if they realise it can be used to help solve issues they really care about, such as climate change.
“I think if you want to make change in the world, then you need to be able to wield the technology and understand its impact.”
“Now is the prime time to get involved with AI because it will help empower you to shape the world into how you would like to envision it.”STELA SOLAR, NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTRE DIRECTOR
Back at the National AI Centre, there’s a rare thing happening – women outnumber men.
Solar believes that’s partly because many women are interested in accelerating the safe, responsible and ethical use of AI.
As for encouraging future generations to step into AI, she says people need to think about STEM subjects more creatively.
Solar herself was set to become a film composer but fell into the technology sector and was surprised by the creative opportunities. For instance, she’s developed an emotion-sensing dress, and a robot that paints people’s portraits.
She says career paths are not as linear as they once were.
“On our team, we’ve had a poet who became a natural language researcher with AI,” Solar says. There’s also an urban designer who became an AI ecosystem and value chain researcher.
Her advice for young women? Start playing around with the technology.
“Don’t be afraid if you haven’t tried it yet. Now is the prime time to get involved with AI because it will help empower you to shape the world into how you would like to envision it.”
YOUNG WOMEN GROWING UP with AI need to develop strong analytical skills to help them question the accuracy of AI tools, according to Kate Brown, the head of junior school at Pymble Ladies’ College.
This education begins early. She says year 5 students recently faced an important lesson in questioning everything when it comes to using AI.
As part of a project to build a rover following the same processes NASA went through to successfully land a robot on Mars, the students used AI to create an image of NASA’s Mars team.
“It immediately produced one, but it had no women in it, despite the fact that the head of science at NASA is a woman,” Brown says.
“On the first view, that image could be totally believable, but it’s up to the user to test the accuracy.”
The experience taught the girls to research backwards to determine the truth, whereas previously they were taught to research forward in their pursuit of knowledge.
“On the first view, that image could be totally believable, but it’s up to the user to test the accuracy.”
KATE BROWN, HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL, PYMBLE LADIES’ COLLEGE
The Mission to Mars project involves the girls in every aspect of the robot’s design, including engineering it so that it can scan and navigate the uneven surface of the planet, ensuring it can collect samples with a robotic arm.
Not only are the girls learning how to code, they are also building an understanding of how to measure, record and analyse data, according to Brown.
She says the project is one of the many ways Pymble fosters excitement and curiosity about STEM and AI, with the aim of encouraging them to consider STEM careers in the future.
BARBARA COSSON
GIRLS ARE OUTNUMBERING BOYS in many STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) in high school in a sign that gender disparity in those disciplines is beginning to shift.
However, the underrepresentation of women in STEM remains prevalent across industry. There is more work to be done to continue to create pathways for women between education and industry.
Gender equality in the STEM labour force is important not only in ensuring the sector can meet an intense demand for skilled workers but also to see women benefit from what are often lucrative and satisfying careers.
“It’s vital that kids understand what huge range of jobs can follow STEM studies, from agriculture to zoology.”
PROFESSOR LISA HARVEY-SMITH, WOMEN IN STEM AMBASSADOR
Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, Australia’s Women in STEM ambassador, says a huge amount of work has gone into engaging young people in STEM, including giving teachers the tools and resources they need to create classroom activities that interest them.
“It’s vital that kids understand what huge range of jobs can follow STEM studies, from agriculture to zoology,” says the noted astrophysicist.
“If students and parents are confident that there are good jobs at the end of a STEM degree, they are more likely to support these choices.”
Harvey-Smith says students are genuinely interested in science, and that books, television shows and social media channels geared towards children help nurture that interest, steering them towards those subjects at school.
“But subjects like maths, engineering and computing still have a bit of a PR problem – young people aren’t as well connected and don’t really know what they entail,” she says.
“They also come with negative stereotypes, that maths and computing is for ‘geeks’. I think there’s more work to do to bring those subjects into the light and make sure that everyone can see role models who inspire them.”
Harvey-Smith says the Future You national awareness-raising initiative (futureyouaustralia.com.au) is one way diverse STEM careers are being showcased.
Harvey-Smith says there has been definite progress since she was appointed to her role in 2018, as the number of women employed has grown by 38 per cent, from 179,000 to 247,000.
She says wider workforce issues such as the gender pay gap, bullying and harassment, gender discrimination and juggling unpaid domestic and caring duties outside of work are also barriers to careers in STEM.
Pymble Ladies’ College director of futures and partnerships Kim Maksimovic says real-world learning through industry partnerships helps the study-to-workforce transition, supporting students with mentors, work experience, internships and scholarship opportunities.
For example, three graduates received work experience placements with engineering and architecture firm Arup over the summer holidays, ahead of starting related university degrees this year.
Another graduate received a data science scholarship through the UNSW Co-op Program, which also involves internships and introductions to technology industry leaders. The college’s Women in Tesla work experience program is one of its latest industry partnerships exposing students to a variety of technology careers.
Maksimovic wants industry to reach out to more schools to provide opportunities and supported pathways for students. “Ensuring they have constant connections with people who are advocates for women in STEM – and those advocates don’t need to be women – is integral,” she says.
GIRLS
THE PROPORTION OF GIRLS STUDYING STEM HAS RISEN* *The
65%
%
%
%
%
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
NATURAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES
AGRICULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELATED STUDIES
CHEMICAL AND EARTH SCIENCES
MATHEMATICS
AINSLEIGH PASSI, 17, wants to fly helicopters. Or perhaps she’ll join the navy, or study at the Western Australian School of Mines in Kalgoorlie.
The enthusiastic year 12 student is just one of the 600-plus young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from around Australia whose horizons have been blown wide open by the Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy.
A 10-year CSIRO collaboration with national non-profit organisation CareerTrackers, the academy was established in 2018 to create opportunities for female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with a passion for science, technology, engineering and maths.
The rationale was simple: less than 1 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a tertiary STEM qualification and women remain underrepresented in Australia’s entire STEM workforce.
Academy manager Kim Dyball reminds her students that Indigenous people are the world’s first scientists, engineers and mathematicians, while referencing navigating by the stars, fish traps, water filtration systems, bush medicine, land and fire management, and caring for Country.
The academy is fortified by strong partnerships across CSIRO, other research institutions and industry.
Ainsleigh, a year 12 student at Santa Maria College in Perth, applied to join the academy when she was in year 8 and continues to embrace its possibilities.
Students with an interest in space or becoming a pilot or an aeronautical engineer met NASA deputy administrator and retired astronaut Pam Melroy, who was joined by aeronautical engineers Renee Wootton, (Qantas), and Taylah Griffin (Boeing). Together, they spoke about pathways and possibilities.
“When we were in Adelaide we went on a tour of Fleet Space Technologies, which uses seismic technology in mining,” Ainsleigh says. “It opened up my mind to a whole lot of new possibilities.”
“It’s all STEM,” Dyball says. “We’ve been delighted to be working with Community to communicate Indigenous scientific knowledge and support educators to incorporate two-way science into the Australian curriculum.
“We are seeing change; the young women are incredible. We want them to realise as young Indigenous women they can bring their inquiring minds, their creativity, innovation and can-do attitude into this space.”
The academy, funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, recruits young women in high school from every state and territory. State-based coordinators craft individual learning plans, gather resources, help with scholarship applications and funding for academic success, and support students through high school, tertiary study and into employment.
“We went on a tour of Fleet Space Technologies, which uses seismic technology in mining. It opened my mind to a whole lot of new possibilities.”AINSLEIGH PASSI, YOUNG INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S STEM ACADEMY PARTICIPANT
For Ainsleigh, meeting the aerospace women was life-changing and inspiring.
For now, she has settled on learning to fly helicopters during her gap year, with her sights on a Royal Australian Navy helicopter program that she learnt about via the academy.
611
YOUNG INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S STEM ACADEMY
BY THE NUMBERS
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
Culture, safety, social and emotional wellbeing are given equal weight to the students’ personal STEM goals, with co-ordinators visiting students in isolated or remote communities each term.
Participants have mentors, are introduced to Indigenous women STEM professionals, forge friendships and create peer networks at STEM camps, participate in virtual STEM experiences and work placements and are offered paid internships and leadership opportunities.
150 26 96%
PARTICIPANTS STUDYING AT UNIVERSITY GRADUATED YEARS 8-12 RETENTION RATE
MELANIE KURZYDLO KNOWS how impactful it can be to have a supportive, kindred spirit in your corner, particularly in the early years of your career.
“For me, I needed to have women who were successful to help me grow my career,” she reflects. “I know that it can have a big impact on people when they can see similarities in themselves in people in senior leadership roles and at board level – that they can achieve and can get to that level if they want to.”
Kurzydlo is chief executive of property and social infrastructure at The APP Group and has had many mentors during her career in the property industry.
MELANIE
GROUP
Behind Closed Doors helps women navigate the road to leadership and executive roles by learning from the experiences of other women – as well as men – in a one-on-one or group setting.
Walford says many executive women, particularly those in male-dominated industries where women leaders are few, will put themselves through programs to acquire the skills necessary for progressing their careers, rather than be sponsored by their employer.
“We talk about [senior appointments being] based on merit [but] you’ve actually got to go headhunting and tap the women [to apply] because they think
From her experience of being mentored, and now in mentoring others, Kurzydlo believes the practice boils down to one thing – developing confidence. Whether a woman covets her first promotion, is looking to keep a career on track while raising a family or aiming to win a senior role in a maledominated industry, a lack of confidence can hold her back.
“Mentoring is breaking down the barrier you put before yourself to step into the next phase of your career. A lot of that is mindset … if you believe that you can, you will.”
Women naturally gravitate to female mentors, says Donny Walford, who has turned her passion for mentoring women into a business that provides leadership development, peer coaching, mentoring and networking opportunities for women.
there’s someone better deserving – they don’t go for it,” she says.
“Having mentors helps in that process because you can help change the mindset, get women to think about all of the reasons why they can rather than all the reasons why they can’t, and start articulating them in a clear and concise manner.”
As a fractional leader for startup and scale-up digital businesses, Karen Lawson says a mentor can be a member of an individual’s overall business network who can be called on ad hoc to discuss a challenge over a cup of coffee.
“I think everyone’s got different ways of mentoring, and the way I mentor is to identify the problem you’re fixing, the challenge or goals, and not just having a general chat,” she says.
Lawson says mentors do not have to be at the top of the corporate ladder. Rather, a mentor who is not so far up the ladder can also be a great help, especially someone who has recently gone through similar challenges.
“You can feel a bit overwhelmed with somebody with seniority or a position of power, as [you’re unlikely to] have those honest and direct conversations,” she says.
Every girl has the potential to change the world. Three students share how Pymble girls are making the world a better place for the broader community.
The deepest fulfilment comes from helping others and fighting for what you believe in, no matter what. Don’t wait for someone to make a path for you, create it for yourself.JAHLE TEZ YEAR 10
AS A TEENAGER in the 21st century, it can feel as though we have no say in world events, and it’s hard to make a difference. What I’ve learnt, though, is even the smallest actions can make the biggest change in someone’s life.
On February 6, 2023, a devastating earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria, affecting 15 million people. Being Turkish, I felt a strong connection to this tragedy, as some of the people affected were very close to my heart.
I wanted to do something, and I knew I could make a difference with the help of my peers.
Together, we organised a fundraiser on campus to support UNICEF aid initiatives. We created ebru art cards for people to write messages to children affected, and sold gozleme and sweets, which were kindly donated by Gozleme King and Gaziantep Sweets.
A local belly dancer performed a traditional Turkish and Syrian dance. Everyone participated by learning and performing the Syrian circle dance Dabke. We raised over $1500 and sent dozens of positive messages to people in Turkiye.
Pymble gave me a platform for my voice to be heard and a pathway to make a difference in someone else’s life.
We shouldn’t be scared of change. Change can give hope.
IYLA JOLAPARA YEAR 1
SINCE I WAS YOUNG, my hair has always been super long, reaching down to my hips. I loved playing with it, putting it into long ponytails and getting it plaited by my sisters.
One day, my mum shared some stories with me about children losing their hair due to their cancer treatments. Learning about these kids made me feel like I needed to do something. I watched some videos on how organisations made wigs with real hair for children with cancer and how donations helped aid doctors in providing services to sick children. That’s when I decided I was going to cut my hair. I was a bit nervous to let it go, but it was time for a change.
Knowing the children I would be helping were so brave gave me the courage to cut 40 centimetres of my hair, even though I only needed 30 centimetres. It was a big change so the whole family got involved. The hairdresser let my two sisters, my parents and me cut my hair! I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but I loved it.
I loved it not because it looked good but because I knew my hair would go to children and make them happy. Not only did I donate my hair, I also inspired my peers, family and friends to support the cause and raised $4000 for cancer research. What I did was essential—it not only helped people in need but also showed my friends at school how we can all make a difference in the world through acts of kindness.
It takes a collective, a group of people wanting to help others and, in the process, changing themselves and the world around them.GEORGIA BICEGO YEAR 12 SERVICE-LEARNING PREFECT
WE OFTEN FAIL TO recognise the small things we do in our everyday lives can lead to meaningful change; from the way we make others feel to the way we stand up for what we believe in, to the way we encourage others to do the same. I have been involved in two programs over the past year that have not only created change but helped me to grow.
Days for Girls is a lunchtime club at Pymble that chooses a cause to support. In 2023, we chose to get involved in making sanitary pads for young females in Africa who didn’t have access to feminine hygiene products. It was powerful and inspiring to see a group of my peers recognise the importance of such an initiative and how, collectively, we could help empower women in Africa – just by giving them access to basic those products.
Sony Camp brings together students, teachers and parents from Pymble and Shore School, partnering them with healthcare volunteers to provide relief to families of children with disabilities over a four-day period. This year, I volunteered to help care for disabled youth, while their families got a muchneeded weekend off. Both programs, in their own way, made me realise that change doesn’t happen overnight.
Pymble Ladies’ College, in partnership with WomenOnBoards, is extending our campaign to promote more gender diversity at the highest level of industry.
We are encouraging corporations to join us in replacing the term Chairman for Chair and prompting executive programs to replace their Chairman’s Lounge with Chair’s Lounge. Language matters and Chairs for Change is aiming to do one simple thing: remove gender bias from the title of the highest office in corporate Australia.
Statistics from the Australian Institute of Company Directors show that the number of female chairs remains low. In 2023, only one in ten ASX200 companies were chaired by women.
In 2024, we are deepening our partnership with WomenOnBoards to create more opportunities and pathways to fast-track the development and advancement of women in board leadership positions.
Watch us change the world, one Chair at a time.
If you are interested in learning more and participating in Chairs for Change, simply scan the QR code to register your interest. It’s one simple step that can help change the world.
